Taking place on 11-12 July, the event featured the traditional village fΩte '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, comments, "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 remarks, "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.
Dominic comments, "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, comments, "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."
(Jim Evans)
