event lighting & sound rental | Peak Hire Ltd

We are really pleased to have just finished work on the 2008 Lambeth Conference – the worldwide conference which brings together Anglican Ministers from all over the globe and which only takes place every ten years.

Peak were originally asked to provide event power supplies and event site distribution for the three week conference at the University of Kent at Canterbury, but with just a few weeks to go we were delighted to be awarded the contract for conference sound in both main venues as well.

The main plenary sessions took place in a custom designed temporary structure, within which we flew our EAW line array PA speakers from our Litec FlyinTowers. Front of house sound control came from our Soundcraft MH3 and monitors were driven by a A&H ML4000.

The EAW KF730 line arrays are a delight to deploy, and despite some last minute changes to the layout of the venue, we were able to quickly adapt allowing for even coverage throughout the 1600 seat auditorium. The new EAW UX8800 processors sound fantastic!

In the Spouses’ Venue, we installed a Mach system to support both speeches and musical acts. The diversity of stage activity meant the system needed to be at its most flexible. The system was controlled by a Yamaha M7CL desk.

In total, four generators were deployed as two pairs of sync’d sets – and for added peace of mind they were remote monitored to ensure that if there were any problems, engineers could be on site as soon as possible.

After three weeks of being on site, we are pleased to report that there were no problems with the system set up or solution we installed. The event received much high profile news coverage, including the BBC, Sky and other worldwide news organisations.

You can also see more photos on the official event Flickr site.

Despite being out on the road since the beginning of July, our back-to-back season of events still hasn’t finished. Our team concluded the Lambeth Conference de-rig and moved straight to Walsingham in Norfolk for the second year at the Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage.

As last year, the event takes place on a totally Greenfield site, so we provided event power supplies, generators and power distribution, as well as lighting and sound solutions for the venues.

Our team of technicians worked closely with the organisers to ensure that the shows ran as smoothly as possible. We utilised our Mach sound system, new Soundcraft MH2 desk, and Martin Mac 500, 600 and 700 moving heads with Pearl control desk.

The event was a great success and we look forward to working with the team again on the 2009 event.

We were just back from Subway’s Picnic Rocks, when we were straight back out the door to prepare for two more festival events. The 2000 Trees Festival is now in its second year and, having supported the event from the very start we are pleased to once again be providing sound and light solutions to the event.

Although the event is only two years old, all the tickets sold in advance of the event, and the festival was the proud recipient of a Greener Festival award for their work on making the event as low impact as possible.

We used our EAW line array sound system on the Treehouse (main stage), supported by an EAW JFX system in the Leaf Lounge. Lighting came from our stocks of Martin moving heads, ETC Source Four pars and Studio Due CS2’s with strobes and blinders, controlled using our Avo Pearl.

When Affinity Events were appointed event managers for the first ever Subway Picnic Rocks event, their first thought for technical support was Peak Hire. Having worked extensively with Peak over the last few years, the event management team were confident that we could provide the level of equipment and service to suit the event budget.

“We turned to Peak because of the challenges of the event – a short get in time, difficult access and a number of bands to turn around quickly, we needed a team we could trust”

Alan Wallace, Managing Director, Affinity Events Limited.

With a newly refurbished (and very expensive!) bandstand as the venue, we carefully designed our sound and lighting system to give near 360 degree coverage, without impacting on the stage area we had to work with.

Using our EAW line array speaker system (comprising KF730’s and Sb730’s), Soundcraft MH3/48 for front of house control, various Martin Mac moving heads and our Avo Pearl we put together a show that would support all of the artistes and allow the audience to see and hear everything that was happening.

We also provided all event electrical site power systems, supplies and distribution. Running from two 100kVA generators with automatic mains failure panel we provided power for all stage activities, stalls and caterers.

As a company we enjoy working closely with our clients on the events that they are planning – and this is especially true when working with MAYC (the youth division of the Methodist Church) on their bi-annual event ‘Breakout‘.

We’ve worked with MAYC since 2004 and have completed events for them at both the Winter Gardens in Blackpool (Breakout 2004 & 2006) and also their birthday celebrations at Cliff College in Derbyshire in 2005.

For the Breakout event this year we returned to Cliff College where, working with the event management team from Affinity Events we provided full lighting, sound and power provision for all of the venues and campsite areas. This included our Mach sound system for the main Big Top venue, as well as Mac500, Mac600 and Mac700 moving head lights.

With bands such as YFriday, FourKornerz and Sounds of Salvation in the main venue, and a selection of bands and workshops in the second venue, the event was attended by about 1200 young people from around the UK.

The event falls between Picnic Rocks and the Lambeth Conference, and the same weekend as the 2000 Trees festival, so no time to relax, we’re straight off to Canterbury…

Following the success of our event last week in Bournemouth – it is once again time for the Peak Hire team to provide sound services for the KCM conference. Utlising our superb EAW line array system and Yamaha M7CL48 digital sound desk the client was really happy with the sound solution we provided. Being an international conference with delegates of many nationalities getting the sound right was of great importance – the live sound was fed to the audience of 1500 with sound feeds being sent to the recording and translation teams to be made into CDs, DVDs and to be translated to French and Italian.

Despite the inevitable language barriers, the event went well and our kit successfully survived the 1300 mile round trip.

Its been a busy week for the team here at Peak Hire – as well as the normal events and dry hire clients we usually work with at this time of year, our sound department have just spent a week working with international charity KCM on the UK leg of their conference. The Bournemouth International Centre saw a range of sound equipment, from our EAW line array for front of house and monitors, as well as the latest in digital sound desks and radio mics. Although the client provided their own engineering staff, Peak Hire left system technicians in place to ensure the smooth running of the event.

Once the event was completed, all of the equipment was carefully checked and then loaded up to be trucked out to Switzerland for the European leg of the event. We’ll see it again next week when we get to Basel…

Here at Peak Hire we are pleased to continue our long standing relationship with Martin Professional with our recent investment in a range of Martin MAC700 moving head lights which are now available for hire.

The new stock joins our extensive range of intelligent lighting, including Mac 250s, 500s and 600s – all of which are available from our warehouse in Cheltenham. The new Mac 700s have full CMY colour mixing.

All lighting is available for dry hire, delivery or as part of a complete production. The new lights are being prepared for a busy summer seasons of conferences and outdoor events. For more information, pricing and availability please call our office on 01242 528444.

Once again we’ve just finished our annual contract for Cheltenham Borough Council for lighting their New Year’s Eve party at Cheltenham Town Hall. The event, which as usual sold out well in advance, saw a range of generic and moving head lights provided by Peak.

Here’s another picture of the event build – all the guys in the blue are the Peak Sound and Light team in their high visibility jackets. This picture shows pit barrier in place and our line array up and in place on the giraffes (the other one is just off shot on the right).

And here is the final result – a fantastic night enjoyed by thousands of residents of Cheltenham and beyond.

“I’d like to say a HUGE thank you to all of you for your involvement in the
Christmas Lights Switch-On event on Saturday.”

Cheltenham Borough Council