24th Jun 2005 - Zero 88 and UK Distributor Stage Electrics support ITV Celebrity Community Show.

In March 2004 Stage Electrics were approached by Granada TV to provide assistance and ‘performance lighting equipment’ to Paul Burrell for the popular ITV1 Show ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’. When Zero 88 found out about the show they were more than happy to support the project through the donation of some lighting control equipment.

A reunion show with a difference, With A Little Help from My Friends sees the famous faces working under pressure to complete mammoth community projects that will make a huge difference to the lives of others less fortunate – all with the help of their long lost school friends.

Paul’s challenge was to create a community centre for Barlborough in an old two-room Victorian school right in the heart of the village. This included refurbishment of the decrepit main classroom into a theatre and youth group room, turn a classroom into a modern internet café room, convert the lobby into a coffee bar, transform the neglected exterior grounds into an outdoor piazza, and organise a party to celebrate the opening of the community centre.

Stage Electrics provided the equipment and expertise for the performance space. Equipment provided included Encore parcan’s, an internally wired bar together with a Betapack DMX dimmer and Level 6 lighting desk which were donated by Zero 88.

The project was led by Martin Woodage, Projects Manager and Stage Electric’s ‘Welsh Team’ consisting of Tim Williams, Huw Field and Jim Christopher delivered and installed the kit on a cold and windy Saturday in mid April working to meet a tight filming schedule.

Says Paul: ‘What is nice about this project is that it’s brought so many people together from so many different walks of life who wouldn’t normally come together and it’s wonderful to see them all interacting. This project has taken me from Primary School to the Palace and back again, and I can look across at the spectrum of my life from growing up in a working class community in a two-up two-down to Buckingham Palace, the Royal Yacht Britannia and Concord: isn’t that incredible?’

The show is being aired this Saturday on ITV1 from 19:45.

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS is a Granada Yorkshire production for ITV1 and produced by David Johnson. Series Producer is Amanda Fidler and Executive Producer is Clare Pizey.