kerry davies

Multicores would be a very costly way of running redundant/unused circuits to places you don't need them. No two venues are identical and the placing of each individual item will never be identical. My solution was to have lots of cables of varying length of each required type and use those that fitted at each venue. I can foresee having to extend multicore elements to suit each individual venue thus making them an expensive luxury that actually added to time pressure. Spiral wrap or tape was always more than adequate if I needed neatness but the one thing that really worked was to run out loads of different cables and choose the closest in length for each requirement. Multicore also restricts what goes where too much for me.

Do yourself a favour and fill out your profile a bit more fully. Who knows but you might be neighbours with members who can help? Last time I looked Wales was the size of at least one whole Wales.

You can get all sorts of gazebo and marquee sandbags but for the truly extravagant there are branded 20 kg. Forza goal sandbags though ebay has others which, all of them being weatherproof, might suit.

In order to get watchable results when filming a stage performance you need several cameras which can do close ups and wide angle and a really good editing set-up with an expert at the wheel. If they just want a record then I would use one of their existing smartphones on the cheapest tripod, as Jon Pearce suggests, and spend the £300 more profitably down the SU bar. If they really want to publish the results, which they almost certainly won't once they see them, then get them to check with the society, the SU, the university and the venues if they would be allowed.

Top tip for non-slip Steeldeck? A generous spray of a proprietary cola drink and handfuls of sugar. Temporary and washable with hot water. Springsteen used to run down from the top of a PA stack and do a knee-slide but most of the audience didn't see the soapy/oiled water he poured on his jeans first.

Why be so paranoid about breakables, just don't break them. There should be plenty of Edwardian/Victorian tea sets in charity shops at reasonable prices. Just about anything flowery would fit.

I once got hold of spec sheets for very expensive Acoustic Fibre and a certain brand of Jewson cheap thermal insulation. There was no notable difference.

Like Bryson I saw your location and thought immediately of Cirque du Soleil who are Quebecois and brilliant at this sort of thing. They might share some brain space with you but my own first thought, which could be totally off the beam, was to hire a camera boom/crane which come in all sorts of size and configuration. It would need a stage hand to operate but might be flexible enough to take "on tour". Check out the variety at www.haguecamerasupports.com/jibs-cranes-booms

If your Fire RA says that you need fire retardant soft furnishings, which it jolly well should, then you need to find another supplier. A quick Google for "Bespoke Fire Retardant Theatrical Drapes" will bring up plenty of reputable suppliers. The Whaleys and J & C Joel websites have detailed explanations of flameproofing and fire retardant materials and bear in mind that other reputable folks can flameproof non-retardant drapes if you cannot do it yourself.

We used to bus in the audiences for Grad and Soc Balls over 20 years ago. That works well with a student audience which is geographically concentrated. Whether it makes a big enough difference when punters have to gather at "collection points" is debatable. It certainly won't work when they turn up with rucksacks and tents etc for overnight stays. Adding a few thousand extra travellers to scheduled services is enough of a problem and lessons need learning from events like Six Nations rugby in Cardiff and the vast car parking and shuttle bus services for Ryder Cups. To source enough drivers for the Ryder at Celtic Manor they had to shut all the schools in Gwent and give the kids a holiday. I had warned them a couple of years in advance.

£5.99 any good? There are umpteen varieties at Amazon but also check for CK Tools VDE Screwdriver sets of which there are also many.

Did it look a bit like a tube socket in miniature? Decades ago I had a set as part of a watchmaker's kit that sound a bit like what the OP is after. Heaven knows where to find them now.

Apropos flying with kit I used to do gigs with a solo DJ/Producer/Muso who had two CDJs, two keyboards, a mixer, a drum machine and a couple of laptops. He travelled extensively in Europe and took his mate with him on European flights purely for his baggage allowance. He found it cheaper to have his mate tag along than pay freight or excess charges and his mate enjoyed the travel.

Ah but the very early Martin lights were designed and built by a bunch of long-haired and very stoned hippies which meant my DJs could keep them going ad infinitum. It definitely had its advantages, rubber bands and wobbly spindles and all.

It is the result of labour being cheaper than mechanisation. Using the "job shop" for batch production of short run items like this can only be cost-effective when you pay peanuts otherwise the investment in a production line or the use of transfer machines becomes a no-brainer.