THE G & E
MACINTYRE BALL

Gavin and Ella Macintyre decided a while back that they wanted to put on a gala dinner ball for charity. Their own personal circumstances with their son, Bertie, were the reason. He was diagnosed with meningitis and gave them a few months of the worst worry they’d ever experienced, but thankfully had recovered well thanks to his quick minded parents and our wonderful NHS.

HANGAR 1 OF SYWELL AERODROME

We are a family run business and also have had an experience with meningitis – Andy and Karen’s daughter, Emma, also is a tough cookie – so we, of course, wanted to help.

The venue was the stunning Hangar 1 of Sywell Aerodrome, an aircraft shelter that is a now a superb function space. Dating back to the 1920’s, the venue is steeped in history and still operates one of the best General Aviation Airfields in the United Kingdom; many pilots consider this one of the finest fly-in destinations. Where better for G & E to get their first event to take off…?

One of the most exciting parts of this event is that Gavin and Ella completely trusted our creativity and let us loose on the room. We visited the site and were overflowing with ideas. The setting is so glorious that we had to stay for lunch too. The main room lends itself to being lit so well, so we knew a lot of our room design would be some fantastic scale lighting. Gavin and Ella had organised the counties best entertainment for the evening so we needed to give them a good platform to perform also.

TWINKLING STARCLOTH

Jet black twinkling starcloth lined the walls with sunset pink and orange up lighting providing a break up. A dance rig was set up above the dance floor with coloured spots hitting the 25 mirror balls around the room, a white dance floor sat beneath. A stage to the front bordered with 1920’s palms and greenery was the perfect place for Chromatic Band to set up and sound check. The tables were set with floor length black cloths and a black and white striped runner to the centre to lift the whole setting. Gold chiavari chairs sat around it, adding the glamour. The centrepieces were an invention that we came across when studying Ibiza beach bars, a tall cylinder vase that glowed in the dark with suspended delicate orchid flower heads of white and pink. To the side there was a photographer and chill out zone, with a mix of relaxed sofas and low tables with floating candles and tall tables to stand at. All enclosed from the rest of the party with champagne coloured podiums and freestanding rose gold lanterns. The finishing piece to this area was a custom made 6 ft neon sign saying ‘LOVE WINS’ a note to us all that we all take the good with the bad and come out the other side.

The domed ceiling was filled with rotating lights that threw colours of violet, indigo and magenta above, always giving the eye something new to look at and a fog at low level gave the dance space some mystery. Two giant stone effect pillars with sweeping palms stood at the entrance to show you that you’d arrived, bringing a bit of Hollywood to the airfield. Moody music played in the background for the meal with a sound system that we added to cover the entire room- this sure lifted the roof on the place when the band started! Gavin and Ella said they couldn’t believe what we’d done with a warehouse… we’d turned it into IBIZA … that was the plan and we think it was mission accomplished.