Welcome to issue six of eFocus and the first one for me.
Winter is definitely behind us and so is 2009 which was a difficult year for the entire industry. 2010 has started well for Stage Electrics and I believe while everyone remains cautious, there does appear to be light at the end of the tunnel at last.
Our ever increasing sales team has seen two new additions: Matt Cowles became part of our London Business Development team and Mark Larcombe joined our Live Events Team. Both of them are experienced members of the industry and have a great deal of knowledge to offer. Stage Electrics continues to believe the best way to service our customers is to provide sales people on the road, on hand to offer advice and expertise wherever you are in the country.
Live Events have had a 'cracking' start to the year with the Wallace and Grommit Cracking Ideas exhibit being moved from the London Science Museum to the Science Museum in Glasgow. Continuing on the museum theme our Live Events scenic team have also produced a new exhibit which has been installed into the new Spaceport Museum in Liverpool, including of all things the Wallace and Grommit "Orange Rocket". The team have also lit, staged and amplified a good number of conferences, presentations, award ceremonies and fashion shows already this year - never a dull moment in our Live Events dept.
The arrival of the sun has sparked talks of summer festivals and these are in the planning stage with everyone hoping the good weather will last. The hire department are once again working towards a very busy Edinburgh Festival season, which looks to be our busiest yet. So far we have confirmed orders to supply technical equipment to over 50 separate performance spaces and the number is still rising.
Our installation teams have completed numerous projects including work at Troon Concert Hall and Glyndebourne Opera House. They are now heading towards a bumper summer and to cope with the expected levels of work Rob Sutton has joined the team as technical project manager in East Anglia, this will increase or capacity and allow Martin Woodage to turn his attentions to additional work in the South East.
Our training department continues to go from strength to strength and we feel this is an important and rewarding service to the industry we work in. To see so many people invest in their futures and to play a key part in that is a great feeling. Any ideas you have for courses we don't currently run would be welcome, we are always looking for ideas to extend the list of courses available.
In closing I would like to remind you we are once again exhibiting at PLASA Focus which takes place this week at the Armouries in Leeds (27th and 28th April). I hope to see you there.
Anna Western