Pearce Hire will exhibit at The Event Show for the first time since the shows move to Olympia. Over recent years the company has expanded its inventory of Stage lighting, audio and temporary power equipment driving the move to a new 11,000 sq ft premises.

Managing Director Shaun Pearce said: “We are looking forward to introducing our updated rental brochure and website to new and existing clients. We booked the stand at least years show and are confident that The Event Show will attract the right visitors for us to meet, in line with our strategic development.”

Pearce Hire’s stand will feature a video demonstrating the variety of exciting projects that they were involved with in 2008 including the Forestry Commission Tours, Bradford Mela, Cambridge Folk Festival and the Northern Motorcaravan Show.

Visit Shaun and the Pearce Hire team on Stand 555 to discuss your temporary power, Stage lighting and audio requirements for 2009

Peterborough got into the festive spirit last weekend with the official switch on of their Christmas lights. Joining the celebrations was Pearce Hire who provided a stage, lighting and audio for the live entertainment featuring recent X Factor evictee Laura White.

Managing Director Shaun Pearce said: “Due to this taking place in the public market square the Council only allowed minimal set up time due to health and safety regulations. Our ‘early bird’ team was happy to oblige with the main production loading at 7am. This allowed us to be fully set up by 10am and running by 1pm, the show finished at 6:30pm and we were off site by 8pm. We always enjoy being involved in this event in our local community of Peterborough.”

Pearce Hire supplied a 6.8m wide x 6.3m deep stage with a trim height of 4m. This was lit with a combination of Martin MAC 250 wash lights on Prolyte truss towers, Thomas 4 and 2-cell Molephays, and 1Kw floods, control was by an Avolites Pearl desk and ART 2000 dimmers

For the audio Pearce Hire supplied a Yamaha DM1000 Digital Console used for both FOH and Monitor mixes, 12 L-Acoustics ARCS Mid-High cabinets, with six L’Acoustics SB218 Sub Bass units, this gave a good dispersed sound coverage across the market square, this was all driven by XTA processing and Camco amplifiers.

Pearce Hire helped exhibition organisers Warner’s overcome a series of challenges when their Northern Motorcaravan Show moved from it’s original home at York Race Course to the new Pickering Showground this year.

Warner’s organise a series of Motorhome and Leisure Shows, which are a great example of the way an outdoor exhibition provides the perfect environment for a particular market. In this case motorhome enthusiasts view the latest motorhomes, shop for accessories and relax with entertainment, this year headlined by Des O Connor.

Pearce Hire has supplied power, lighting and sound to the show for the last 10 years on the York site, but the new site was markedly different and required some new solutions.

Where the York site had been flat and open with plenty of ambient light at night, the new Pickering site was more remote, so very dark, and was divided into undulating hedged fields. Pearce Hire liaised with organisers to safely create clearly lit pedestrian and vehicle routes across the site with tower lights. The new site was also more spread out so electrical distribution was more complex and a larger site pa system was required. The main exhibition area was powered by a synchronised pair of 250 Kva generators distributing to caterers, motorhome sellers and accessories traders.

The entertainment (previously held in a marquee), was now hosted in a showground building, which Pearce Hire dressed with 300m of drapes for acoustic and aesthetic purposes. Pearce Hire lit the stage with a combination of intelligent moving lights and traditional lighting for performances by artists ranging from local acts through to family entertainer Des O Connor. An L-Acoustics PA system using a combination of ARC’s, 115XT HiQs and MTD 108 speakers ensured high quality pa was distributed efficiently throughout the venue. A synchronised pair of 200 Kva generators provided power to all the audio and lighting fixtures as well as providing a back up for the building’s own power supply and associated food and beverage outlets in case of an emergency.

Additional generators supplied power to 20 shower and toilet blocks while a site-wide PA system allowed announcements to be broadcast whenever necessary.

Shaun Pearce, Managing Director of Pearce Hire said: “We worked closely with Warner’s to ensure the new site was safe and easy to use for the exhibitors and visitors to the show. Following a thorough planning process we allowed extra time during the build up and the result was a great exhibition at the new venue.”

For the 21st consecutive year, Pearce Hire provided all the lighting and power at the 44th annual Cambridge Folk Festival on the 31st July – 3rd August. This year for the first time festival organisers and key suppliers worked with Julie’s Bicycle to find ways to reduce the carbon impact of the festival.

The four day festival featured live musical performances and entertainment to a sold out audience of 10,000 people. Pearce Hire supplied all site power and lighting for bars, food stalls and tower lights for the car parks and campsites. A pair of synchronised generators powered the main stage and the broadcast compound.

An array of Pearce Hires moving and generic lighting all controlled with Avolites Pearl Desks and ART 2000 dimmers help set the scene across 3 stages, reflecting the variety of acts performing.

Julie’s Bicycle is a not for profit company who help events to reduce the UK music industry’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Shaun Pearce, Managing Director of Pearce Hire worked closely with Ken Rankin, the festival Production Manager in advance as part of the carbon audit, to find ways of helping to minimise the carbon output. This included site lighting fixtures being turned off at 6am until dusk whereas in previous years they have been left on, instructing the security staff to turn off the car park and camp site tower lights at first light so they were not running during daylight hours and reducing the number of lights on site through careful planning and positioning. Some ‘greener’ alternatives were also introduced such as using low energy lamps instead of the traditional halogen throughout the site. New LED battery powered traffic lights were also used on the campsite and in the car park which completely eliminated a generator running for 5 days purely for the traffic lights!

Pearce Hire’s M.D, Shaun Pearce spearheaded a team that consisted of Andy White, the Site Manager working with 7 electricians, John Huson, the Lighting Director who managed four lighting technicians across 3 stages.

Shaun said: “Our team had a fantastic combination of people who had worked at the festival many times before so knew it inside out and we were able to pass on this valuable knowledge to our new young employees Dan and Jake who impressed everyone with their hard work and enthusiasm. It was great to see the youth of today breaking into the industry, especially at an event which is investing so much in protecting the future.

In total we reduced this years mains power usage by two thousand kilowatt hours from last year and we are looking to increase this reduction next year by possibly using LED lighting for all the stages, “soon we will be conducting a feasibility study in conjunction with the organisers to see if this will be possible.”

For the seventh consecutive year Pearce Hire was the sole provider of power and lighting at all the Forestry Commissions live music tour.

The tour brings live music to unique locations all situated in forests or woodland so people can experience the magic of the forest and make the most of the environment around them. The concerts have grown in popularity each year with the 2008 tour visiting 7 different sites across 9 weekends of shows. A variety of artists performed on the tour attracting a wide audience in terms of age and music taste. Performers this year included Elbow, Crowded House, The Zutons, classical Diva Katherine Jenkins, Jools Holland and established rockers Status Quo.

Pearce Hire’s John Huson project managed the provision of power and lighting for all of the Forestry Commission tour.

The same lighting rig designed and installed by the Pearce Hire team was used at all the venues having been designed to best fit the wishes of all the artists. This year 2 systems were run simultaneously at different sites. Lighting consisting of 3 main trusses carrying a combination of Martin MAC 700’s, Par 64 6 lamp bars and Source 4 profiles with four cell Molephays for audience lighting. Pearce Hires custom design and built moving light distro was used with Avolites Art 2000 48 way dimmers and Pearl desks.

For the end of the gigs between10 and16 Bright Lights towers were located around the exits and car park to guide the crowds of between 5 and 7 thousand safely to their cars for the journey home.

Pearce Hire also supplied the power and distribution systems. On each site a synchronised pair of 250 kVA generators supplied the stage and back stage area, several smaller sets from 20 kVA up to 100 kVA sets supplied the bars, catering, merchandising and site lighting.

Pearce Hire provided audio and lighting for the East of England Show on the 13th – 15th June, which for the first year was partly located in the new EXEC Exhibition Hall.

The annual East of England Show, now in it’s fourth decade attracts tens of thousands of people for a family day out. Pearce Hire was selected to provide the lighting and sound systems for two stages, both inside the same hall.

The technical challenge for the Company was to make sure audiences could hear the speech and music whilst neighbouring exhibition stands could conduct their business. One stage hosted fashion shows, bands and other local entertainers during the day, the other hosted a cookery demonstration area with two kitchens featuring competitions and demonstrations.

Richard Oxley was Pearce Hire’s project manager, liaising with the organisers well in advance. Richard said:
“Having worked with the organisers on this event before we took time well in advance to look at the new venue so that were aware of the challenges concerning the acoustics and stages. With this being the first show in the new venue the organisers were particularly diligent in achieving the highest of production standards to compliment this superb building.

“The two sound systems were used simultaneously on the two stages, to ensure the systems did not interfere with each other we carried out extensive acoustic testing in advance of the event. Thanks to system design and some clever draping we were able to provide excellent audience coverage and workable volume levels whilst both shows were running

The lighting was overseen by Pearce Hire’s John Huson, for the cookery demonstration area Pearce Hire deployed a generic lighting rig with the addition of Martin MACS to project corporate sponsors logo’s onto a white backdrop, whilst on the live performance stage Pearce hire supplied a Starcloth draped box truss with a combination of intelligent and generic lighting.