Van Mildert Summer Ball
This year I was fortunate enough to be involved with Van Mildert’s Summer Ball, as technical director I was responsible for all the event’s staging, lighting, sound and PA, rigging and health and safety. A mammoth task!
The night was headlined by B*Witched (well, two of them…) and also featured boat rides on the lake, a ferris wheel, a three course meal or buffet dinner, comedy performances, living statues, burlesque dancers, professional magicians, living statues, gladiator jousting, angle grinding, a Ministry of Sound DJ, silent disco, popular motown and soul covers band “Souled Out”, a jazz band, an incredible indoor marquee, a real outdoor marque, a giant bed, a theatre, fire artists, giant props, a chocolate fountain, cocktail bar and much much more!
The setup was ridiculous, over a week preparing decorations and fireproofing, three very long days rigging the event, not the mention all the rest of the paperwork, organisation and preparation that went into the night. With the support of Becky Grigg (who did an amazing job as Head of Summer Ball), the rest of Summer Ball Committee and various other helpers we pulled it off though… the night was an amazing success. We sold an unprecedented number of tickets, made a safe profit margin, got (almost) everything we wanted past the Health and Safety men, found enough electricity to plug everything in, and didn’t have any major disasters (despite a slight technical hitch during B*witched, not our fault honestly!).
When we set out to organise the ball is was taken for granted we wouldn’t be able to even get close to matching last year’s event – it was suggested we didn’t event try – but most of the feedback we’ve had from this year is that we pushed past even last year’s spectacle, setting the bar even higher and without any shadow of a doubt giving K-Lee and the 2008 team a pretty good run for their money!
Now who will be crazy enough to take it on next year? Hmmmm….