White Light Makes a Show for Mayor of Newham

	Photo: Andrew Baker Photography

The Mayor's Newham Show is a free two-day event which aims to provide fun and entertainment for those living in the borough of Newham, East London. Organized by Newham Council, a record crowd of 50,000 attended this year's event which had the theme 50 Years of Newham, marking five decades since the show's formation in 1965. The event saw East Ham's Central Park buzzing with a wide range of events for all ages including live music, a pop-up beach, and sports taster sessions. London-based lighting rental house White Light was once again called upon to provide its lighting and rigging services, having worked on the event for the past four years.

Taking place on July 11 - 12, the event featured the traditional village fête "Best in Show" competition, various arts and crafts activities, alongside the selection of plants and flowers that were on sale. It also saw 2,000 schoolchildren from 22 Newham schools take part in the carnival procession. The Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, says: "The show keeps going from strength to strength, with this year's being the biggest and best ever. It was great to see all the residents getting involved, taking part in the activities, enjoying the entertainment and finding out about the work of the council." Due to the various activities taking place, this meant that the occasion drew on all of White Light's various skills. Project manager Dominic Yates says: "For the event, we had to provide both the lighting and rigging. As the show continues to grow, so does the amount of equipment and work we have to put in yet this is something we are able to match each year."

The event featured performances from Britain's Got Talent finalists IMD Legion and Revelation Avenue, The Voice UK finalist Emmanuel Nwamadi, as well as CBBC presenter Ben Shires and Cbeebies characters Cook and Line and Postman Pat. Yates says: "There were three stages we had to light and rig: the main stage for the music and dance acts, one for cabaret performances and the other for the children's entertainment. The various acts meant slightly different set-ups for each stage in order to capture the feel required." White Light had a team of six working on the event to ensure the smooth running of the day, which also saw double 2012 Paralympic gold medallist Hannah Cockroft and Team GB sprinter Bianca Williams in attendance. Evangelos Vanezis, events officer at Newham Council, says: "This is always an extremely high-profile event attended by some very notable people. It's fantastic to have such a strong working relationship with White Light as it means we are completely confident that they can fulfil any requirements we have for them."

White Light has been working with Newham Council for six years now and this is its fourth Mayor's Newham Show. Every year, the company works with the council on various events, such as the annual Under the Stars Festival. Yates says: "Working with Newham Council always pushes what we can achieve when supplying our services. The events we work on are extremely varied yet ones which we can easily adapt to. By returning each year, this means we can constantly build on our previous experience and help make each event stronger than the previous one." The relationship between White Light and Newham Council continues to grow. Vanezis says: "White Light have proven again both how reliant and efficient they are when it comes to supporting us. Regardless of the turnaround time or what we ask of them, they always find a solution and we look forward to continue working with them in the future."

Next month's Under the Stars Festival will see Central Park provide four nights of free live musical entertainment, featuring artists such as Aswad, Clem Curtis & The Foundations, and Hot Chocolate. With this particular event being the largest of all of those which White Light works on with Newham Council, the complete production solution specialist is looking forward to making a swift return to East London. Yates says: "Working with Newham Council is fantastic as they genuinely want to bring their local community together through various forms of entertainment. It's amazing when we cannot only work on these events but actually see, first-hand, the impact they have. The more Newham Council try and engage with those living in the borough, the more we will be on hand to support their activities in whatever way we can."