Working together, Gearhouse South Africa and UK-based HSL supplied lighting for the opening ceremony of the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kampala, Uganda - the largest and highest profile such event ever to be staged in Uganda.

Gearhouse won the OC pitch with production company Events Warehouse to supply full technical production - lighting, sound and AV - for the show staged in the Ballroom of the Serena Hotel & Conference Centre.

The initial idea was to ship the kit from Gearhouse's base in South Africa, but by the time the date was finalised, Gearhouse SA's lighting department was already incredibly busy with the FIFA Preliminary Draw in Durban and the Nelson Mandela's 46664 AIDS awareness concert in Johannesburg among others - that they had to think laterally of an alternative plan for sourcing the kit!

Gearhouse project manager Bill Lawford decided that outsourcing the entire lighting rig was the most efficient way forward.

Enter HSL!

It was the first time the two companies have collaborated, but HSL came very well recommended to Lawford. They also came up with a good quote to air freight all the kit and necessary lighting crew to Kampala!

Mike Oates project managed for HSL, "It was very exciting for us to work with Gearhouse SA - we've heard so many good reports about them - and it's been an excellent and hugely positive experience all round" he enthuses, adding that it was a challenge to find good crew at short notice at what was also one of their busiest periods!

The Opening Ceremony show was staged in the round, with a stylish and elegant lighting rig designed by Gearhouse's Tim Dunn to suit the occasion.

As soon as HSL were confirmed for the job, they received a copy of the lighting plot and started to build and prep all the kit at their Blackburn UK HQ and sorted out the air freight arrangements with Paul Eldridge from Freight Management.

Equipment included 40 Lodestar and Prostar motors,  50 sections of trussing and a white polystretch projection surface used to create a projection canopy between the inner and outer trusses above the stage.

The equipment sent included 60 Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200E AT moving lights, 15 ETC Source Four zooms, 18 bars of 6 PARs, 16 8-lite Molefeys and 2 GrandMA  consoles.

Totaling 23 tonnes, this was road freighted to Ostende and then air lifted from there to Kampala aboard a Boeing 747 - 200.

HSL sent Chris Cunningham as crew chief, Neil Trenell to take care of dimmers plus Mark Wynne Edwards and rigger Andy Roberts. They joined a Gearhouse crew of 14 in Kampala, including Gearhouse's rigger Graham Brooking and lighting director Sean Rosig who programmed and operated the lights.

Says Mike Oates, "On site our crew and the Gearhouse crew gelled immediately and worked together like clockwork - like they had worked together all their lives! Bill Lawford was extremely well organized, accessible and a pleasure to work with, and  right from the off we all felt that we were one united international team".

Bill Lawford comments, "HSL were highly professional, the gear was in first class condition and the crew were perfectly picked for the job".

In addition to the crew, Gearhouse SA supplied 8 Christie projectors, a Barco Encore presentation system and PPU plus a dV-DOSC sound system from their Johannesburg HQ.