The charity was set up by Premiership footballer Kevin Davies, team captain of Bolton Wanderers, aimed at youngsters under the age of 18 living in and around the Bolton area. His wish is to help local children develop skills, confidence, self-esteem and discipline by creating opportunities that otherwise would not be available to them.
This was their first major fundraising event since gaining Charity status only weeks beforehand and was staged in the Premier Suite of De Vere Venues Whites hotel at the Reebok Stadium. The charity and the event is backed by some very prominent Boltonians, some of whom were lending their talents on the night. The evening was headlined by McFly and supported by Britain's Got Talent stars, Escala with guest appearances from Peter Kay and Radio One DJ Spoony to close the proceedings.
The technical team that supplied and operated the AV facilities was headed by Saville's dedicated on-site event manager at De Vere Whites, Steve Farnsworth.
For many, it was the stage setting which stole the show, with a stunning full height, full width LED starcloth backdrop set off by an eight-foot gold Phantom of the Opera type backlit mask. This was suspended against period drapes and finished with ornate, six-foot tall candelabras. The finishing touch was provided by two 14ft projection screens suspended either side of the stage, with a gold 3D 'picture frame' surrounds. The realistic gilt effect was achieved by projecting the image onto the plain, felt-covered frames.
Vision was provided by four projectors, utilised separately for projection of moving images and VT and also to provide the projection of the 3D picture frames. A three-camera shoot was deployed with two static and one central camera on a dolly, fed back to the desk and vision mixed by the Saville live vision crew.
The lighting package comprised over 158 individual luminaires, including 48 intelligent moving head fixtures. Each table was pin-spotted, with the majority of the rig then deployed on the box truss overhead, at stage level and on the truss uprights behind the set backdrop. Combined with pyrotechnics and 'low smoke', the result was a series of stunning visual effects throughout the evening's diverse programme of events.
Audio was provided through Saville's new d&b Q1 line array acquisition, via two Yamaha M7CL 48-channel digital consoles (one FOH and one monitor mix). A sprinkling of d&b E3 and nine cabs were added to ensure full coverage of the room was achieved throughout the band and quieter speech elements of the audio.
Gordon Clapperton, general manager of De Vere Venues Whites commented,"We we're delighted to host the first major event for the KiDs of Bolton charity. Our team worked closely with Kevin and Emma (Davies) on all aspects of the evening and it was made especially easy having the ready resources of Saville Audio Visual, our official on-site AV supplier as part of the team.
"The evening was a resounding success," he added, "showing just what can be achieved in our Premier Suite and making use of our newly installed LED starcloth and pre-wired lighting truss. We wish KiDs of Bolton every success and look forward to planning the 2012 Ball. This one will take some beating."
Speaking on behalf of the charity, Kevin Davies said, "Saville were very easy to work with and extremely professional. They shared our vision for the evening and the staging, lighting and running of the event was all down to their brilliant team. For us it was an amazing event and many of the guests have mentioned the theme and the feel of the room as being superb."
(JimEvans)
