Trials And Tribulations

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A Trip To The Birthplace Of Radio
2011-11-27 16:07:00
At the weekend we were in the rather nice area of Chelmsford, (We were also in Peterborough, Newark and Durham which is about average for a Saturday at this time of the year) with a couple of sidestalls and a Ferris Wheel. The wheel was one we haven't used before, the owner of the original wheel is unfortunately ill and was beginning a course of treatment a few days before the event. He asked if he could arrange cover, which is something I don't usually like, but I trust him and let him go ahead. The result was one of the nicest wheels I have seen in a long time, a lot of it had obviously just been repainted, but even the parts which hadn't were exceptionally clean. I have been to Chelmsford for probably a dozen events last year, but they all seemed to be rather hectic affairs, this time having travelled down the night before from another event, we had more time to look around. One thing which stood out was the general cleanliness. Even as the event finished there was no litter ...
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Giant Snow Globe Hire
2011-11-27 16:07:00
We Now Offer Giant Snow Globe Photography A stunning concept that we have just added to our portfolio of photography services is our range of Giant Snow Globes. These are giant inflatable domes that are like a supersized version of the little snowglobes that you used to pick up in tourist shops, you know the kind, you shake them up and the glitter inside gives the effect of a snowstorm. Anyway ours are bigger, much much bigger, upto 21ft in diameter in fact. This not only alows four or five adults to enter, but also lets us add props to the interior such as a Decorated Christmas tree, or an inflatable snowman. It is envisaged that the globes should be a good line over Christmas, we can supply them to our corporate clients, and take photographes of the guests inside, these can then be uploaded in the usual way to our secure server for free downloading, or we can set up a complete print solution allowing images to be purchased and printed immediately. ...
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The Curse Of The Call Centre
2011-11-27 16:07:00
Whilst using our accounts system recently to prepare our quarterly VAT returns, I hit a snag, the system suddenly asked me for a password, which as I had not set it up to use a password left me stumped, I couldn't give it a password I didn't have. After a couple of hours of no progress I finally resorted to ringing technical support. Like many technical support centres I was greeted by someone who's first language was not English. After another hour of trying to solve the problem with no success, they finally told me that a password reset tool could be downloaded from the company website and used to reset the software, wtf, through clenched teeth I asked why we had spent the last hour going round in circles when all I had to do was download this tool. After being given the web address I was confronted with a screen requesting I type in all of the details I used when registering the software, I duly complied only to be told that it didn't match what was on their system and I c...
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New Games Available For Hire
2011-11-27 16:07:00
New Games For Hire From Jason AR Moody Amusements Over the summer we have added a number of new games to our portfolio, many of these are designed to move away from the purely funfair type attractions and broaden our appeal. Gold Cup Racing Game For Hire Gold cup is a variation on the Kentucky Derby style Game, only instead of having to roll a ball into holes to move your horse you sit astride a hobby horse and simulate a galloping motion, once we have chance to shoot a video clip I'll post it here as it is hilarious to watch. Wii Games Consoles For Hire The Nintendo Wii probably needs no description, it has been a gaming hit since its launch. we offer it with a quad charging system, plasma screen display or projection screen for larger format gaming and an operator to help run the games. With the wide variation of titles available for the console there is sure to be something suitable for any type of event. Inflatable Horse Racing Another game that really needs a...

Paparazzi Instants
2011-11-27 16:07:00
Paparazzi Instants Out of the many additional services and games we have launched this year, the photography part of the company is probably the fastest growing, with us picking up regular work from a number of sources. The paparazzi service has been the favourite so far, our photographers dress as archetypal press photographers from days of yesteryear (long macs and trilby hats), utilising Canon DSLR cameras they take unlimited snaps of the guests at an event, these are then uploaded to our secure server and the guests can download them free of charge. We have taken this a step further with our new Paparazzi Instants service, our intrepid 'Paps' can now come with compact hip mounted dye sub printers, powered by battery they can dispense professional laboratory quality prints in our 60 seconds, this means the guests can now take a print home with them. Once the pre paid package of prints has been exhausted, the paps continue snapping as normal with all of their images uploaded t...
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Oops
2011-11-27 16:07:00
We have a regular band of operators that provide additional attractions at many of our events. Fred is one such operator, with us using his helter skelter or flying chairs on various occasions. He was attending a couple of events for us last weekend, and as far as I know everything went ok. Tuesday however I happened across Fred at a funeral. "I had a bit of trouble at Saturday's event," was his opening gambit, know I hadn't heard of any trouble from the client so I was a little puzzled and inquired as to the nature of said trouble, "No, it wasn't at the event, it was on the way home." The tale Fred related to me was as follows; On the way home, in his van, he hit an unfortunate pheasant as it was crossing the road, the impact sent said pheasant hurtling across the road and into the front rider of a pair of cyclists knocking him and his bike sideways and down a forty foot embankment. Fred stopped, as did an elderly couple in a vintage car to offer assistance to the cyclist. ...

Halloween At The Print Works
2011-11-27 16:07:00
We supplied a couple of games units to the print works in Manchester for a Holloween event. 4000 drunken students dressed as vampires, monsters etc meant I was expecting a hectic night, but as it turned out it was quite enjoyable. On the home front, I've just had a letter pop through the postbox informing me that I have been selected for Jury service at Doncaster Crown Court, upto 2 weeks in the middle of December, usually our busiest month, so that is just bleeding fantastic, hopefully my application for a deferral will be granted. Last weekend we nipped up to Glasgow for an event in the Polo Lounge, a new venue for us and a bit unusual, the decor was like a scene from a Sherlock Holmes film. On the way up there we came across the usual collection of messages displayed on the motorway matrix signs, "Don't Drive Tired", "Don't Use Your Phone," etc. The last one however was a new one on me, "Drive Efficiently". ????What the hell does that mean, it conjures up images of a...
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Oops 2
2011-11-27 16:07:00
On a recent job at John Lewis store in Newcastle Upon Tyne, (a paparazzi job following lookalike David and Victoria Beckhams around the store) I dropped my daughter off at my parents in Middlesbrough, then proceeded up the A19 to Testo's roundabout, turned left there and took the road past Howarth Metro into Newcastle. Anyway, a couple of mile before I reached the Metro terminal, I passed a number of people running up the road, a couple on each side of the dual carriageway, I did wonder if it was some sort of road race or something, and thought it was a pretty dangerous if it was. Everything became clear however about half a mile further on, a horse was galloping full tilt the wrong way up the Eastbound carriageway! I didn't fancy the handlers chances of catching it, they were a good half mile behind and it was going like the clappers. December is shaping to be a heck of a month, as we have just picked up 2 block bookings from shopping centres, one in London with Chestnuts and...

More Photography Services
2011-11-27 16:07:00
We have added a number of other fun services to our photography portfolio, these are listed below; Photo Sketch Our software is used to convert the captured images into pencil sketches. Photo Morph The images are altered using morphing software to give an exaggerated caricature style look. Digital Makeover Using the latest in Anthropics software this one takes an image and quickly turns it into an airbrushed photo worthy of a magazine cover. Some of the options are a little much and include facial sculpting, but if you stick to the lower settings it gives fantastic results. postCount('227'); | postCountTB('227');
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Paparazzi Hire
2011-11-27 16:07:00
Paparazzi Photographers For Hire One of the photography services we launched was our spoof paparazzi photographers. I have been surprised by how many jobs we have picked up, seems lots of people like having their photos taken. One good contract was a chain of bars that are expanding, we are providing services at their launch parties, which make for quite enjoyable evenings. Whilst we were installing a bar a couple of weeks ago, I received a call from a news agency, seems that a light aircraft had crashed into some houses in Salford and they required a photographer to capture some images, I explained that wasn't really what we did, although Ian who was with me was keen to give it a go! Truth be told I don't think I want to go down the route of snapping people injured and dying regardless of how well it might pay, the spoof service we offer is well rewarded and fun and I think I'll stick to that. Paparazzi Photographers For Hire Nationwide Availability postCount('220'); | po...
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Office Christmas Party
2011-11-27 16:07:00
Office Christmas Party Hire We have just put together a number of special Christmas packages for smaller offices, these are designed to allow a short break to be held in your office, perhaps as a thank you to your staff. Details are available at Office Christmas Party our new mini site. postCount('221'); | postCountTB('221');
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Another Busy One
2011-11-27 16:07:00
July finished off on the same note as it began, busily. Friday Ian and I were in Blackpool for the launch of the new revolution bar, we were providing paparazzi services in and around the club. The following day I started the in Chesterfield, finishing around 5pm, nipping the staff back home from that job and picking a camera kit up to provide a Paparazzi and green screen service in Nottingham for a TA Army units wild west themed party. I finished there at midnight and was originally meant to travel to Colchester to help on a job at an army establishment there, but we managed to take extra staff mening I could just head home. I finished my weekend off by travelling upto Lumly castle to provide an ice cream cart at a wedding, that proved to be a nice relaxing job to round the weekend off. Whilst this was going on, Ian and a couple of staff were providing a bar service to a wedding in Burnley. Part of the service that had been booked was us providing wine for the tables and also c...

A Few Images Of Events
2011-11-27 16:07:00
Saturday, (and Sunday for some) we had a number of smaller events on the go. At the Parrs Wood Leisure complex we were there with 3 small sidestalls for 2 days, Jans Conference Centre in Blackburn we supplied Ice Cream, Candy Floss and Popcorn on 3 seperate carts. We had a Candy Floss job on for L'Oreal Cosmetics in Leeds, and a candy floss/popcorn job on a single cart at a wedding in the Wirall. A few images below from some of these. postCount('212'); | postCountTB('212');
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Auschwitz-Birkenau
2011-11-27 16:07:00
Forever Let This Place Be A Cry Of Despair Haveing a few days spare at the start of April, I booked a short break to Krakow in Poland. We found the people there to be generally friendly, the weather was fine for 3 days and we had a pretty good time. For the second day of our visit, I had booked a chauffeur and private trip to the small Polish town of O?wi?cim. That name probably doesn't mean much to most people, but in 1939, after the German invasion of Poland, it was given its more infamous name, Auschwitz. Over time Auschwitz, along with Auschwitz 2 (Birkenau) and Auschwitz 3 (Monowitz) grew to be the largest of the Nazi extermination camps. Far better descriptions than I could manage have been written about the horrors of the camp, so I won't go any further here, instead I have presented a few of the images I shot in the camp, along with brief explanations of them; Arbeit Macht Frei, was the cynical emblem above the entrance to the main camp, roughly translated it means "W...

The Return Of Laurel And Hardy
2011-11-27 16:07:00
Over the last few years we have carried out that many jobs that most of them are now second nature. Setting up most of our equipment has become an almost automatic procedure, and at many events there is very little conversation needed as everyone tends to know what they are doing. Unfortunately every now and then something unforeseen throws a spanner in the works. On Saturday night I was supplying one of our new photo booths to an event in Harrogate. Now when we had the unit designed and built, I ensured it was capable of fitting into a standard size lift. The job at Harrogate was on the fifth floor, which knowing they had 2 lifts wasn't going to be a problem. However I hadn't realised that the architect of the building didn't like the look of the lifts, and surrounded them with a wooden frame, which had the effect of reducing the height of the lift entrance, to around half an inch less than I needed to slide the booth sections into. Try as I might, I couldn't fit it in. Now t...
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Benwell At The Weekend
2011-11-27 16:07:00
I was back in my native North East at the weekend for a 2 day Islamic event in the Benwell area of Newcastle. Saturday I couldn't attend as it was a female only day, but I spent a pleasant Sunday there. It was only a small scale event with candy floss and popcorn, a helter skelter, toyset and inflatable slide/bouncy castle. Helter Skelters For Hire Throughout The UK postCount('213'); | postCountTB('213');
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450 Year Celebrations In Mansfield
2011-11-27 16:07:00
I've struggled the last month to fit the time in to write anything on this blog, over 60 events in 30 days meant we had a punishing schedule, its only slightly less hectic over the next month, but I have a few days off before the next round of jobs. The images below are from the 450 year celebrations of the Queen Elizabeth endowed school in Mansfield where we provided some Victorian style attractions. Funfair Rides For Hire Throughout Yorkshire postCount('216'); | postCountTB('216');
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Party On The Amp
2011-11-27 16:07:00
We returned to one of our regular venues recently with a larger selection of equipment than other years, we also gave our new battle tanks system a good work out with a six hour running time, I had expected to use a large number of batteries to keep them running, but in the event I only had to change a set in one of the Sherman tanks about thirty minutes before the event finished. Hire Dodgems In The Yorkshire Region postCount('215'); | postCountTB('215');
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July 23rd, Another Busy Saturday
2011-11-27 16:07:00
Certain weekends seem to attract higher numbers of bookings than others, July 4th is usually one, but this year we have had July 4th, 16th, 23rd and next Saturday the 30th is very similar. On 23rd we ended up with 4 main jobs being run directly, and a number of others that were soley down to sub contracters. From our main office we had hot dogs, candy floss and popcorn going up to a wedding at Bishop Auckland, Candy floss going over to an event at Cambridge University, A Pimms cart off down to Aylesbury near Oxford and Dodgems, Trampolines, Train Ride, Crazy Golf, Bar, Ice Cream and Candy floss a short hop to Newark for an event we have supplied attractions to the last 3 years. We also had dodgems at Oxford, Cambridge and Northolt. Funfair Hire In South Elmsall, South Kirkby and the Rest Of Yorkshire A few images below from some of the events; postCount('217'); | postCountTB('217');

De Computer Sez So
2011-11-27 16:07:00
Or nomination for Moron of the year award. Quite often nowadays I don't have time to keep this blog updated. Odd occasions I do have time I sometimes struggle for something newsworthy to write. Occasionally however something drops in my lap that I just have to put on here. I recently added a new van to our line up, and insured it with the company that insurers our other CItroen dispatch. In common with our other insurances we pay in a lump sum at the start of the insurance term. A couple of days ago the postman knocked on the door to deliver a registered letter from said company, upon opening it I read a formal notice that as I had not settled an outstanding amount they would be cancelling my insurance unless it was paid in the next 7 days. Now this puzzled me as I know I paid in full at the start of the policy term. Upon reading further down the page, the amount outstanding was in large bold type to make it more noticable. It read that I owed them £0.00 thats right Zero ...
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Off To The Tower
1970-01-01 00:59:00
Some of the venues we visit are absolutely stunning, (although it has to be admitted that some of them stun me for other reasons). Anyway I have just rolled in from another trip to the smoke. This time the venue was the Tower Hotel, nestled pretty much between Tower Bridge and the Tower Of London, this is the view from out of the window. The same week Arthur and I had a trip through to one of our upcoming venues to meet with the safety planning group. I had to pick Arthur up from Conisborough where he was operating at an established event run by another company. I arrived to collect him just as he jumped out of a lorry cab and twisted his ankle. As he lay there looking at me imploringly trying to telepathically tell me he didn't want to come, I cheerfully told him to stop snivelling and get in the car. He spent the rest of the day giving any ladies we met puppy dog eyes and explaining how much pain he was in. I spent the rest of the day telling them what a drama queen he was ...

Environmental Friendly Funfair Update 2
1970-01-01 00:59:00
"It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish." ? J.R.R. Tolkien We are pulling together the strands for the initial phase of our green policy. On Saturday we are presenting a large private funfair for a corporate client in the North East. In readiness for this we have a number of different recycling bins and the first of our new recycling stations. The station is almost finished, it would have been ready, but in conjunction with our green initiative we have also decided to publicise the upcoming Keep Britain Tidy campaign which is focusing on reducing cigerettes that are thrown on the ground. To this end we have ordered some wall mounted cigerette bins which will be mounted on the front of the recycling stations along with posters advertising the campaign. In keeping with our green policy we have managed to build the recycling stations out of around 80% recycled materials, mainly steel which has been recovered from side stalls that we no longer use. The ca...
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Tact and Diplomacy
1970-01-01 00:59:00
Although I strive to present a professional image (hard sometimes when Arthur is with me), there are occasions when my tact and diplomacy appears to come straight out of the German Gestapo's handbook. The Evening Gazette has just run a story about the launch of our Environmental policy, click here for details. During the conversation with the reporter I made a comic remark about being hit over the head by a compost bin, only to see the line appear in print. Oh well, won't be the first time my strange sense of humour rears its head. I attended another of Leeds Mets networking events recently, Arthur was supposed to be there with me, unfortunately the day before he had been doing a bit of work on something and managed to get a bit of rust in his eye. He rang me about half way to Leeds to tell me he couldn't see out of one eye and was driving himself to the hospital. Why he couldn't drive to Leeds is beyond me, good job Admiral Nelson didn't have the same attitude or we would al...
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Carbon Offsetting
1970-01-01 00:59:00
Whilst we await completion of our resource recovery units ready for the launch of our 'green' policy at the end of the month, I have been looking into other ways of reducing our carbon footprint. Whilst doing this the idea of carbon offsets came up. Basically for the uninformed, this is where we calculate the amount of co2 we are responsible for producing and then pay a third party who use the money to make improvements somewhere else in the world that reduces carbon emissions by the same amount as we are putting out. There are a number of different companies that will do this for us, the thing that is annoying me is the fact that the british based companies charge between £6 and £20 per tonne for this service, yet a number of American based firms can provide the same service for around £2.50 per tonne. So once again, its rip off Britain time. Virtually everything you wish to price up in this country is at least double the cost of its equivalent in the States. ...
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Gremlins and Biodegradability
1970-01-01 00:59:00
Coming from the North East I always like it when we have an event in the area. I'm writing this having just returned from Stockton on Tees which is just down the road from my hometown of Middlesbrough. Now I like Stockton, but when it comes to operating there I am beginning to think there is a vicious little gremlin lurking about, and for once I am not talking about Arthur! At the back end of last season we operated there and the details of that episode can be found here This time we were presenting a couple of carts (coffee and candy floss) in support of the town centres Fairtrade initiative. I got there nice and early expecting Arthur to be waiting as he was coming half the distance I was, but he wasn't . About half an hour after arriving my phone rang and Arthur explained that a gust of wind had hit his vehicle on route and damaged the candy floss cart, he was limping back to the depot at Houghton le Spring and then coming through without the cart, we would just have to use o...
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K.I.S.S.
1970-01-01 00:59:00
I must admit that I like gadgets. When I buy a phone, the last thing I look at is its ability to make phone calls. Sat nav, internet access etc, great. The one area I don't apply this rule to is the equipment we operate. I've found over time that the more sophisticated something is, the more there is to go wrong, so I try to operate the K.I.S.S. methodology (keep it simple stupid!). Our prime movers, (heavy vehicles used to transport or tow attractions) tend to be Fodens. This is an English marque established over 100 years ago. Now the thing I like most is the fact that the most sophisticated piece of electronics on a Foden is the radio cassette player, this means that most problems you encounter can be sorted in house, or at the side of the road. I was reminded of the wisdom of this approach recently. On the way back from Mablethorpe I called into a service station to refuel, and pulled alongside another showman's vehicle. As I climbed out of the cab I recognised a mate o...

Interesting Week
1970-01-01 00:59:00
Well its been an unusual week this last one. About 1 am the other morning I suddenly woke after hearing what I thought was my daughter falling down the stairs. After rushing out of the bedroom in a panic I could see she hadn't. My wife thought that someone we had asked to leave our property (people seem to like parking in my front drive) and received a mouthful of abuse from had come back and rammed the house with something, so she was running around the house looking for signs of damage. After a while we decided it must have been a joint bad dream and went back to bed. We found out the next morning that we had experienced an earthquake, which to be fair is not something you expect in West Yorkshire! Anyhow back to our efforts to save the planet, the main recycling bins were delivered the other day, ready to be built into mobile recycling points. We hope to launch them at an upcoming event in Darlington. The bins in question are ideal for outside use at larger events, but we hav...
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My Hometown
1970-01-01 00:59:00
I've stated before that I always enjoy visits up North. Today we ended up at Middlesbrough, which is my hometown. This was in support of Middlesbrough Environment City, an organisation set up in the 90's to promote environmental sustainability. The event was promoting Middlesbrough councils support of Fairtrade fortnight, and we supplied one of our Victorian candy floss carts giving away free Fairtrade candy floss. This is one of 3 events involving North East local authorities that we are supplying candy floss to. One of the events will see us sending an espresso coffee cart along with Fairtrade tea and coffee. Whilst in the Boro, I had a walk around the town, I hadn't realised just how much development was going in in the area. Captain Cook's Square where we were operating looked really fresh, and was busy all day long. Other parts of the area that I remember as run down last time I was there have suddenly been transformed into eyecatching new properties, so it's nice to see...

Happy 100th
1970-01-01 00:59:00
One of the best things about our move into the corporate entertainment industry has been the number of stunning venues that we have operated at. The latest of these was the Wallace collection in Manchester Steet London. This event was the 100th birthday party of Mills and Boon, the romantic novel publisher and was designed to bring together their editors, publishers and authors in a birthday bash. The theme was PINK, with the room being decorated with coloured spotlights and giant flamingo stilt walkers greeting the guests. We only received confirmation of the event on Monday morning, and the event was being held on Thursday, which resulted in a couple of days rushed activity to respray one of our candy floss carts in pink tones to fit in with the theme. We pride ourselves on our customisation service, although we do tend to like a bit more notice. In the event the event was stunning, with Greek tenor Attila serenading the guests while waiters handed the ladies Roses. Alan T...
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Environmental Policy
1970-01-01 00:59:00
We are now running out of time, and the question now is not what is happening to the climate, but how bad will it be before the world, starts doing enough? - Jonathon Porritt (2007) Climate change and sustainability is rapidly becoming the hottest topic ever. No one in the developed world today can be ignorant of the damage that is being inflicted upon the planet by the industrial nations of the world. This is all well known and documented, what is not, is the solution. Respected scientists are still arguing over the cause and effect of global warming, with one camp claiming it is all down to human activities, whilst others claim that mankind itself contributes less than one percent of the emissions into the atmosphere, with the bulk coming from rotting vegetation and methane emitted by the digestive process of cattle? Similarly it has been stated that if Britain cut its emissions to zero, the developing nation of China would make up the shortfall in a short space of time, so w...
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