Stagefreight Archives - StageFreight

Keegan Hirst Player Sponsorship | Supporting Halifax RLFC

Posted on 4th February 2020 by Jonathan Kennedy

When we’re not sorting out event transport, Stagefreight makes some time for charitable work in our local community. We’re happy to announce our sport sponsorship of Keegan Hirst, a new player for Halifax Rugby League Club!

About Halifax Rugby League Club

Halifax RLFC was formed back in 1873. They were the first team to win the Yorkshire Cup in 1878, and were founding members of the Rugby League in 1895. From there they continued to be very successful, producing one of the best teams the early 20th century had to offer. The team also finished 4th in the 2018 Betfred Championship.

The Shay Stadium is Halifax RLFC’s home ground, and one of the leading grounds in British rugby league. It can hold over 14,000 rugby fans for each match.

About Keegan Hirst

Stagefreight are proud and excited to be sponsoring Keegan Hirst, the Halifax team’s newest player. Player sponsorships are a key way that local businesses can support Halifax RLFC.

Stagefreight's Ian Uttley and Keegan Hirst from Halifax RLFC — When Ian met Keegan

Keegan officially joined the team in September 2019, coming from the Super League team Wakefield Trinity. He has 300 career appearances under his belt, with 66 of these in the Super League! Keegan also has extensive championship experience with Batley and Featherstone; he’ll be with Halifax until 2021.

Keegan Hirst is sure to bring experience and leadership to the Halifax team. In an interview on the RLFC website, Keegan said:

“I’ve really enjoyed my time so far here, I’ve come into a side that hasn’t had the best of seasons, but they are a great set of lads, and I am impressed with the club and I really want to play for Halifax. What they’ve got going on here is infectious and I want to be a part of that going forward.

The fans have been great so far, they’re quite vocal and I hope we can get back to winning ways and get plenty more Fax fans coming down to games to cheer the lads on.“

Simon Grix, Halifax’s Head Coach, told the Halifax Courier:

“He’s a real ‘one-hundred percenter’, always looking for that bit extra. He prepares properly and does whatever he needs to do in the best interests of the team.

In that regard, he walks the walk and he’s also prepared to talk the talk; if he sees someone who’s not doing everything they can, he’s not afraid to call them out.“

Stagefreight’s Sports Sponsorship

Stagefreight’s Ian Uttley said:

“We’re excited to be supporting Halifax RLFC. The new sponsorship plan is a fantastic opportunity for local businesses to get involved and to support a cracking club.

Keegan Hirst is an awesome rugby player and great bloke. Like Stagefreight he has a desire to succeed, which is great for the club. And we can’t wait to see him in action in 2020.

As an event transport company we’re keen to support sporting heroes, both on a local and national level. That’s why as well as sponsoring Keegan, we’re sponsoring the team’s training wrestling kits too.

Stagefreight has also sponsored motorcycling legend Steven Procter, who’s done us proud on the racing circuit.“

Ian, Ross, Chris, Suzi, JP and Steve from Halifax RLFC — Perfect match – Stagefreight and Halifax RLFC

Stagefreight and Halifax RLFC laughing — We even had a proper good laugh

Halifax RLFC wrestling kit — Nice bit of kit that

Stagefreight and Halifax RLFC group shot — All lined up

The Event Transport Experts

We’re proud to #BackTheFax as part of our sport sponsorship, and we’d like to wish Halifax a great 2020 rugby season.

We have plenty of experience with live event logistics, and we’re here to help if you’d like to put on an event.

Before we arrive at the event, we’ll plan the most cost-effective and fuel-efficient route to you. Not only does this save you money, but it ensures all of your equipment arrives on time, every time.

We know how important timing is to live events, and our experienced lead driver carefully plans trailer arrival for each job. This ensures each trailer arrives exactly when you need it.

If you need any help with lighting choices, our drivers can offer advice based on their expertise. If you have a stage that needs building, they can even help your own team put it together!

Get in touch with us now by visiting our Contact Us page. Alternatively, you can ring us directly by calling 0113 797 898.

A Year in the World of Event Transport

Posted on 16th December 201924th January 2020 by Jonathan Kennedy

2019 is coming to an end, and it’s been an exciting year for Stagefreight! We’ve put together this new article to look back at our biggest highlights of the year. It’s also a great showcase for the full range of our event transport services.

Did you know this isn’t the first time we’ve reflected on our past activities? You can also take a look our 2018 recap.

A big thank you for making 2019 so amazing

Our event transport team couldn’t be what it is without our brilliant clients and dedicated team. That’s why we’ve highlighted some of them below.

2019 Case Studies

● Stage production Pepperland celebrates the music of the Beatles with an offbeat tribute show. We were proud to provide stage transport services, and we’d like to thank Dance Consortium for the behind-the-scenes look.

● After embarking on her 2018 Fare Thee Well Tour, prolific musician Joan Baez decided to add some 2019 dates. Stagefreight provided music transport services, while Joan Baez was kind enough to hang out with our team.

● Northern Ballet’s Victoria was an innovative look at the life and impact of Queen Victoria. Stagefreight’s theatre transport service helped bring this exciting show to life.

Drivers

Stagefreight’s team is a pretty personal one, and we like to highlight some of our drivers. We’re proud to report we’ve got some fantastic people working for us at the moment.

New to the Team

● Chris Wilkinson joined Stagefreight recently, and he does great work in our corporate event transport services. His can-do, helpful approach means Chris is in very high demand from our corporate event trucking clients.

● After joining in 2018, Ash Bateman became a full-time Stagefreight driver this May. He has 17 years of driving experience; nowadays, he’s responsible for a range of event transport services including music, theatre and corporate events.

Lead Driver Veterans

● Allan Spencer has been driving for more than 20 years. For the last few years, he’s been lead driver on Northern Ballet tours; on average, he spends 9 months of the year working with the company.

● Paul Garfit is the lead driver for English National Ballet tours, with 17 years of driving experience. 12 of those have been with Stagefreight, and he really enjoys the challenges that theatre transport presents.

2019 Award Win

We’re very proud to have received two awards this year—SME News’ Best Events Transport Company Award, and their Eco-Friendly Road Fleet of the Year. We’ve been investing in our fleet over the last few years, in an effort to reduce our overall carbon footprint; you can read more about our efforts here.

Award Shortlists

We had some exciting shortlist firsts this year. We were finalists for the Motor Transport Team of the Year award in July, and we were shortlisted for Road Freight Operator of the Year in the FTA Logistics Awards. Stagefreight was the only event transport company to be shortlisted this year, and it was also our first nomination in both awards. As such, we’re very excited to have taken part.

Yorkshire shortlists

We’re also a nominee in the Yorkshire Choice Awards at the moment. This prestigious award recognises the best businesses and individuals that Yorkshire has to offer. Public votes determine the winner; learn more about how you can help us to win!

The End of an Era—Ramfest

Charity music festival Ramfest has come to an end after a decade of shows. Hosted by Southowram Cricket Club, Ramfest supported many different causes over the years, with Stagefreight providing logistical support. It was also an excellent platform for a host of local bands.

Helping Some Sporting Legends

Stagefreight are proud to sponsor a pair of sports stars this year. Motorcyclist Steven Procter debuted in 2015, and since then he’s competed in several sporting events; this year, he’s appeared in the Tandragee 100 and at Donington Park. More recently we have started sponsoring Keegan Hirst, who joined Halifax RLFC this September.

New Additions to the Fleet

Renault Trucks T High

We’ve expanded our fleet with several new trucks this year, including some Renault Trucks T High. All of them have Euro 6 motors, and they were also voted Fleet Truck of the Year 2019.

#StagefreightBlue

In honour of our 35th year, we’ve unveiled our special 35th anniversary truck. This special truck has been painted blue; keep an eye out for it on the roads next year.

blue truck outside theatre — Our 35th anniversary truck outside Plymouth’s Theatre Royal.

Festive Event Transport Projects

This year we worked with Shone Productions on a range of pantomime shows across the UK, including Cinderella and Aladdin. You can learn more about these shows in our article on the best local pantomime shows for 2019/2020.

Happy Holidays

From our team to yours, we’d like to wish everyone a very happy holiday period and a great start to 2020. We’re ready to jump into the new decade with our fantastic team and our diverse range of services.

Whether you need help with a stage show, a conference, live event transport or something else entirely, Stagefreight are here to help! Take a closer look at our Services page, or call us now on 0113 797 898.

FTA Logistics Awards Shortlist Announced

Posted on 31st July 2019 by Sarah Oxley

We’re very excited, as the FTA Logistics Awards 2019 shortlist has been announced.

And we’re a finalist!

Wish us luck for October, as we join fellow finalists to discover who wins the award for Road Freight Operator of the Year.

As one of the biggest business groups in the UK, the FTA supports and stands up for efficient logistics.

Its the only organisation in the UK that represents all of logistics including road, rail, sea and air industries.

The FTA Logistics Awards are the only awards by the industry for the industry, so it’s naturally quite an honour to be shortlisted.

We may be a little giddy about it for a bit.

There’s also the excitement of comedian, Ed Byrne, hosting the event.

If you’d like to know more about the awards, have a closer look at the award shortlist on the FTA website.

Or if you want to know more about us and what we get up to, have a look at our latest work in the case study section.

Fingers crossed for October!

Award Wins: Best Events Transport Company and Eco-Friendly Road Fleet

Posted on 26th April 2019 by Sarah Oxley

Exciting news!

Our team has won two fantastic awards from SME News.

Best Events Transport Company 2019

Eco-friendly Road Fleet of the Year 2019

The Best Events Transport Company was awarded thanks to the team’s dedication to customer service, while the Eco-friendly Road Fleet of the Year is thanks to our eco-plan that ensured our team drive in an eco-friendly manner with eco-friendly trucks.

(A fleet made up of a combination of Mercedes Actros 1845 and Renault Trucks T-High).

Ian and Chirs say:

Ian Uttley:

“We are very excited about winning these awards. They reflect our commitment to our clients and on reducing our company’s carbon footprint.
Our clients are top priority. Expanding our services above and beyond what’s expected has proven its worth, and we look forward to working with our clients—old and new—for many years to come.”

Chris Adgie:

“These awards are a massive success for Stagefreight. I’m enormously proud of what we’ve achieved.
We wouldn’t have gotten this far without the fantastic work of our drivers. I’m grateful to all of them for the great work they’ve done—and will continue to do—on Stagefreight’s behalf.”

Visit the SME News website for the full story.

Here’s a picture of the award and of Ian receiving the award.

stagefreight award 2019 SME News — Looks nice that ?

SME News Best transport and low emission fleet award — Ian still has the schedule in his back pocket 🙂

If you’re on the lookout for some event transport, we’re able to support with theatre transport, live event transport, music transport, corporate event transport and many more transport jobs.

Browse our full services here; or if you already think we can help, give us a call on 0113 797 898 today.

Meet more of the Stagefreight drivers

Posted on 22nd February 201930th August 2019 by Sarah Oxley

We’ve introduced some of the team in a previous article and it grabbed people’s attention.

So, we thought it was time to introduce more of the team.

Read on to meet more of the great Stagefreight drivers.

Name: Allan Spencer

Allan Spencer has been driving for 23 years and stage trucking at Stagefreight for the last 18 years.

He’s the lead driver for Northern Ballet theatre tours and has been in this role for the last 2.5 years.

Northern Ballet tours

On average he’s on tour with Northern Ballet for 9 months of the year and leads a convoy of six to nine trailers across the UK.

The latest production was The Nutcracker that featured a stunning reindeer sleigh prop. And he’s excited about 2019’s brand new Victoria production.

Experience

In-between his Northern Ballet stage tours, Allan helps out with event transport jobs across the UK and Europe. One of the more unusual jobs was transporting some snowmen and elephants for an ice show at Blackpool Tower.

Over the years, he’s become well travelled across Europe. He’s been to Istanbul, Marrakech, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin and many more popular European destinations. He also speaks a bit of German, which comes in handy on trips to Berlin.

When asked about destinations that defied expectations, Allan said he was pleasantly surprised by Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Allan recommends St. Petersburg as a holiday destination to anyone, as it’s such a fantastic place.

Advice to young drivers

His tip to young drivers is to get a role with an entertainment transport specialist like Stagefreight. Stage trucking is one of the best jobs Allan has ever had.

There’s a great variety to the jobs, a lot of positive energy as clients are excited to see you and ready to unload the props. There’s always a warm welcome for Allan when he arrives at the theatre destination. As there’s often repeat tours with clients, Allan says that you can really get to know the client you’re working with. And if you get stuck in with the job you can be an extension of their team. You quickly become part of the crew.

Name: Chris Wilkinson

Chris has been driving a Stagefreight transport truck for just 1 year, but already it’s the best job he’s ever had.

His main focus during the last year has been on corporate event transport. He’s not just been helping the Stagefreight corporate clients with their transport needs, but he’s also helped to set-up for the events too.

This can-do attitude and super-helpful approach has put Chris in high demand with the corporate event clients. Some of our top clients have asked for him to be their driver on future conferences and events too. That’s great feedback for a driver who’s new to the event transport scene.

The first trips

Chris has jumped into the deep end of the corporate event transport world, but is enjoying every minute of it.

In just 1 month he went to Madrid twice, and was pleased to be in the city centre as on his off-days he was able to explore this brilliant city.

He was also in Munich last winter, and got the chance to look around the German market near the airport, while he was there.

Chris’ very first trip though was to Ravenna, Italy. It was a 9-day trip with Opera North’s Kiss Me Kate Tour.

Find out more about this theatre transport tour in our case studies.

This trip to Italy was a first for Chris and a first for the Opera North team.

Sport events and music tours

He was also on the team of the Boardmasters Festival back in August 2018. The annual festival near Newquay in Cornwall is an exciting event that combines live music with surfing, skateboarding and BMX competitions.

Since being a Stagefreight driver Chirs has also toured with some big music names. For a month and a half he helped out on a music tour for one of America’s most popular solo artists.

It’s all go for Chris though as 2019 promises to continue with the exciting event transport jobs. He’ll soon be completing corporate event transport jobs in Copenhagen.

Name: Paul Garfit

Paul Garfit is the lead driver for English National Ballet. He’s been driving for about 17 years and has been part of the Stagefreight team for roughly 12 years.

Experience

He’s a very experienced lead driver, as he’s previously also been Northern Ballet’s lead driver.

Paul has worked in other transport industries, but came back to theatre transport as he really enjoys the challenge of theatre transport jobs.

English National Ballet tours

A typical English National Ballet tour consists of 6 trailers. Paul typically tours the UK with the team. He likes all the venues he’s been to when touring with English National Ballet.

But if he had to choose (and let’s face it, I specifically asked him to do just that), his favourite venues are in Edinburgh and Canterbury.

He likes Edinburgh due to the style of loading bays and he likes the challenge of Canterbury.

As Canterbury has a medieval style centre, driving in this cathedral city requires some good skills.

Edinburgh is not only a good venue, but has a great crew too who are really fast when it comes to unloading and loading.

Paul is currently on tour with English National Ballet’s “She Persisted” – one show with three bold works on and by women.

Advice to young drivers

Paul’s advice to young or new drivers is to never underestimate the focus you need when driving.

Always take your time and observe. Check and double check when driving. Beware of going into autopilot when on route as anything can happen.

Name: Ash Bateman

Ash joined the Stagefreight team back in 2018 as a sub and became a full-time driver in May 2019.

He’s been driving for over 17 years and was previously driving across the UK in the general haulage and recycling sectors.

Ash has been getting stuck in across a variety of event transport jobs including music, theatre and corporate.

Music Tours in Europe

Being part of a 20 truck convoy across Europe was an eye-opener and quite a highlight for Ash, especially Russia and the Ukraine.

Previously Ash had mainly been to Iraq and Afghanistan as a driver in the army, so this tour offered more countries to add to the list.

The band Ash was doing the music transport for is up there as one of the music legends. Despite being in their 70s, they still know how to rock!

Advice to young drivers

Ash’s advice to young drivers is to always listen. If you listen to the task and what you’ve been asked to do you can’t go wrong.

Ask for clarification if need be, but if you do as you’re asked you’re offering great customer service.

And if you’re keen to get on the road as a driver yourself, get in touch to enquire about our latest vacancies.

If you’re in the entertainment business yourself and you need a reliable transport expert, we could be just the ticket.

View all our transport services on our website.

Or give us a call us on 0113 238 0805 right now to discuss your tour or event.

A year in the life of event transportation services

Posted on 17th December 20188th January 2019 by Sarah Oxley

As 2018 is coming to a close, our team in event transportation services are getting a bit nostalgic. Providing event transport throughout the year is serious business, but we’re a cheerful group and like a bit of fun and banter in-between the hard work we all put in.

We usually look towards the next event transport job, but we thought it would be nice to take a breather and have a look back at the year that was (or as good as was in any case).

Ballet Day

The year began with paying tribute to one of the most popular art forms of the event industry -ballet!

We proudly support Opera North, Northern Ballet, The English National Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Opera – just to name a few – with their ballet tours across the UK and Europe.

We felt it was fitting for us to take part in all the positive messages about ballet that were happening on the Twitter-verse and beyond.

Beast from the East

A bit of a surprise – and minor hiccup – to our event transportation services was everyone’s favourite 2018 snowstorm that wouldn’t leave, the aptly named Beast from the East.

It was alright for some of the team though, as they were touring around Europe’s warmer climate like our own Ian Lowe, who was managing the Joan Baez music tour transport. More on his far too sunny pictures later on.

We and our friends at Universal Live firmly believe teamwork is the dream work, so we tag teamed it to free some of our trucks! That was snow mean feat…

BBC Radio Leeds came for a visit

In April, we had some local visitors come for an exclusive behind-the-scenes view. We showed BBC Radio Leeds’ morning presenter, Richard Stead, around the warehouse and showed him some of our trucks too.

Richard and his producer, Jamie, were surprised by how much planning and prep is involved in our event transportation services.

It was nice to show BBC Radio Leeds around and we enjoyed swapping planning stories with them.

We introduced you to more of our drivers

You may have seen our driver profiles across our social channels. We often share what a great job our team does, as they’re a modest and shy bunch.

But we thought putting a face to the hard work would be a nice gesture to really show what a great job the team does throughout the year.

There will be more driver profiles to come once we can get ahold of the team again. They’re a bit busy with transport jobs this time of year.

Our urban trailers

There’s a misconception in the event transport world that all truck trailers are the same. However, our very own Chris designed Stagefreight’s urban trailers.

Urban trailers have the same capacity for equipment and props as our standard trailers, but they also have a more agile size for city roads and urban loading bays. It’s a win-win design that we’re very proud of.

Find out more about our urban trailers here.

Italy trip with Opera North

It was a big year for the Kiss Me Kate tour team of Opera North and for the Stagefreight team.

In a world first, Kiss Me Kate took part in the annual Ravenna Festival in Italy.

The city of Ravenna champions the arts every year and it was a great honour (and well deserved) for the Kiss Me Kate team to be invited to join the festival for the first time in 2018.

It’s also a credit to the brilliant performance that the team completes every show. We were thrilled to help out with this tour.

Kiss me Kate scene _ Photo_ Tristram Kenton — ©Tristram Kenton 05-18
– used with permission

This first outing in Italy for Kiss Me Kate was undoubtedly a triumph for everyone involved. Find out what was involved in the transport side of things in our Kiss Me Kate Ravenna tour case study.

Ramfest 2018

Every year we team up with Halifax businesses and charities to put on Ramfest – a fun family festival full of games and music that also raises money for local charities.

The music is a mix of new and well known acts that always delight the crowd, as there’s such a positive atmosphere on the day.

If you’ve not had a chance to join us at Ramfest yet, keep your July free for 2019 as we’ll be celebrating 10 years of Ramfest!

BFG cake

We pride ourselves in being able to handle event transport of any size, shape or form. But a first – even for us- was the PR campaign we supported Michelle Sugar Art and Mr. Kipling Cakes with.

Back in July, a 7 metre tall sculpture of the popular Roald Dahl character, the Big Friendly Giant, needed to get from Kent to Primrose Hill in London by dawn.

Over 7,000 cakes that couldn’t be touched had be taken from Michelle’s studio to Regent Park. Not a problem for our team.

Watch the video of how our Ant gets this amazing sculpture from A-Z.

Europe highlights

Our team gets around Europe quite a bit. We supported Lenovo UK at the annual IFA (Consumer Electronics Unlimited) conference in Berlin with their Tech Life ’18 event.

The lads on a music tour in Berlin took a moment to take this brilliant picture outside of Berlin’s Olympiastadion.

Power stance anyone?

Then there was time for some sunshine in Malta, before a corporate event in Paris was calling.

Stagefreight truck in Malta — On tour in sunny Malta

Stagefreight truck in Paris — Corporate event in Paris

Curious about the other places we complete transport jobs in?

Have a look at the most popular Europe routes of 2018 (coming soon).

Trucks of Insta

Back in September, we ventured into the world of Instagram!

Be gentle with us; we’re more in tune with Google Maps than the world of hashtags.

We’re hoping to shake things up (in a good way) with our Trucks of Insta.

Are you following us on Insta yet?

New trucks and trailers

It’s been a great 2018 all round and we’ve not just added people to our team, but more trucks and trailers too.

Here’s a quick lowdown of what’s been added to the team:

16 additional trailers
6 tractor units
26 tonner
18 tonner
And our very first curtain trailers

As you can see we’re well prepared to take on more event transport jobs in 2019.

Joan Baez’s farewell tour continues

The famous and highly popular Joan Baez continues her farewell tour and we had a quick catch-up with the music tour driver, Ian Lowe, to find out how it’s been going.

Back in August Ian and Joan were in sunny Spain and had 58 performances behind them in 39 cities and towns. A total of 32,705 km completed alongside three amazing crew members, Chris Howlett, Sean Baddams and Steve Baddams.

Stagefreight truck in Spain — Pitstop to enjoy the sun in Spain

Ian’s highlight remained working with the legend, Joan Baez, who in his words is the most approachable person ever.

We got featured!

We’re also quite pleased that some of our transport jobs caught the attention of our trucker community.

Did you know that Trucking Magazine and Truck & Driver both featured the BFG cake transport job we did on behalf of Michelle Sugar Art and Mr. Kipling cakes?

Just don’t tell our Ant, as the fame might go to his head.

What does 2019 have in store for event transport?

The show must always go on and we’re excited to get started with 2019!

Whether you’re after event transport, music tours or theatre tours, our team is ready to get you there in a fast and reliable style.

Give us a call on 0113 797 898 to plan your event.

Ramfest 2018

Posted on 12th June 201815th June 2018 by Sarah Oxley

Have you got plans for Sunday July the 15^th?

Of course, you have! As you’re joining us for Ramfest 2018, right?

What’s a Ramfest?

Every year we join the Ramfest committee to put on a bit of a shindig that involves live music, epic food, nice company and all to raise money for multiple worthy causes.

It’s a festival for friends and family – a festival to enjoy!

Who’s performing?

There’s nothing quite as good as live music and we’ve got a total of 8 performances!

We’ve got the debut performance by Andy’s Man Club Band.

Here’s the line-up in full:

Noon – 12.50 | Andys Man Club Band
13.00 – 13.50 | Regiment
14.00 – 14.50 | Psychoslinkys
15.00 – 15.50 | Dave Barnes from The Voice
16:00– 16.50 | In Echoes
17.00 – 17.50 | The Revelator Band
18.00 – 18.50 | International Party Doctors
19.00 – 19.50 | The McCarrons

What else you got?

Glad you asked. The before mentioned epic food includes:

Stonebaked Pizzas
Roast Beef Wraps
Mexican Cuisine
Burgers
Ice Cream

There’s also a kids play area to keep them entertained and for the grown-ups a beer & gin bar.

Please note that no alcohol is permitted to be brought onto the site.

What’s Ramfest for?

While we’re definitely up for a great festival, there are also several worthy causes behind the gathering. We’re supporting two amazing charities, so please give generously so they can keep doing their great work.

Andy’s Man Club

This charity aims to get men talk about their feelings and emotions, something that men are notoriously bad at says that “It’s okay to talk”.

And that talking can improve the quality of the lives of men and their families.

Heartbeat of Sport

Did you know that twelve people under the age of 35 die of sudden cardiac arrest?

The team at Heartbeat of Sport is raising awareness of sudden cardiac arrest within sport and doing what they can to prevent it.

The more people out there can spot the warning signs, then the higher the chances for survival are.

Specialist equipment for screening and care is needed, so Heartbeat of Sport needs your support during Ramfest.

Come join us! Full details below

Location: Southowram Cricket Club, Ashday Lane, EHX 39TR

Time: 11:30 – 20:00

Tickets:

Buy in advance from Ticketsource:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/ramfest

£6 Adults
£12 Family (2 adults, 3 children under 18 years of age)

Or buy on the day

£10 Adults
£2 Children

And if you have any questions, just give us a ring on 0113 797 898.

You can also use our contact page here or follow us via social media to keep up with what’s going on at Ramfest this year.

Facebook / Twitter

Hope to see lots of you all there.

BBC Leeds Came Behind The Scenes

Posted on 9th April 201813th April 2018 by Sarah Oxley

We’re very excited as Richard Stead from BBC Radio Leeds came for a visit to do a Behind the Scenes feature.

No worries, if you missed it on the radio, as you can catch the footage on the BBC iPlayer at the 2 hours and 11 minutes mark.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p062gdbl

Radio and film?!?

Richard also filmed some scenes to spread the word on Twitter and here’s one of the Digi Videos.

It was great to show Richard and his producer, Jamie, what the team gets up to.

We started by giving them a tour of the Stagefreight warehouse, showed them the yard and some of our stage trucks.

And they were surprised by how much planning is needed to get one of our event partner’s shows on the road.

Richard Stead collage visiting Stagefreight — Here are some highlights of Richard looking around

Behind the scenes eye opener

From our point of view, it was fascinating to see Richard and Jamie in action as they planned out the interview with Ian and the different sections of the show.

It was an eye opener for BBC Radio Leeds in terms of stage and event transport plus an eye opener for us in terms of radio shows.

Listen in

Head over to the BBC iPlayer to listen to the whole thing, as I don’t want to be giving too much away.

All I’ll say is there’s a Rhino, an old taxi and Ian from Stagefreight doing a fab job in his first radio interview.

Enjoy.

What Makes An Event Transport Company? The People Behind It

Posted on 22nd September 201710th February 2020 by Sarah Oxley

At Stagefreight we like to make sure we tailor transport support to our individual clients and that our whole team can help you every step of the way.

To give more insight into who we are as a stage and event transport company, we’d like to introduce two of our team members today:

Meet Chris: Director at Stagefreight

Chris has been a driver for 35 years and is celebrating his 30^th anniversary at Stagefreight.

He’s no longer a driver and instead supports Ian as Director and Head Mechanic.

As Head Mechanic Chris looks after all truck maintenance and makes sure that all servicing is complete.

This ensures that we can support you with your events and show productions at short notice and planned in advance.

In his role as Director, Chris supports Ian with overall admin tasks and advises new customers on what truck and trailer options are best for their event.

When Chris was a driver he specialised in stage transport for ballet and opera.

Some interesting trends he’s noticed over the 20 years he was in this field, is that opera used to dominate the large stage sets.

While, in comparison, ballet tended to opt for smaller sets.

Ballet’s overall popularity has grown over the years and equally large sets as in opera are now the norm in ballet.

Being used to both helped Chris quickly adapt to the growing trend in ballet, as he was used to the set needs of opera.

Chris himself likes ballet due to the relatable stories told through this art form.

He’s just one of the key people needed to keep our event transport company running on track.

Meet Daz: Stagefreight Driver

Daz is one of Stagefreight’s friendly drivers and while knowledgeable about all event transport, he most often supports with corporate events across the UK and in particular Europe.

Off-loading and event set-up support is part of the service at Stagefreight and Daz quickly becomes an important part of the event team.

So much so that some clients have specifically asked for him as a driver for their recurring events.

As each corporate event is 4-5 days long, Daz will often look after a maximum of three clients per Europe tour.

Travelling here and there around the world in a highly time efficient manner is what Daz is known for and as a little hobby, he keeps a diary to track where he’s been.

He’s supported events in Rome, Barcelona (x2), Benidorm, Munich, Prague, Copenhagen, Madrid, Warsaw and Amsterdam (x3).

And that’s just a few examples of 2016 and 2017 (so far).

So, as you can see it’s not just Director, Ian, who has the 411 of stage and event transport down, there’s also a very experienced team supporting him.

If you’re looking for an expert event transport company, get in touch with Stagefreight today or browse our Services page to see what we can do for you.

New Website is Live

Posted on 22nd September 201722nd September 2017 by Sarah Oxley

Explore Our New Website & Features

Stagefreight is evolving, and it’s vital our site evolves as well. That’s why we’ve created a completely new website. It’s good news for us and good news for you, as it really highlights how we can best help you with all your event transport needs. Win-win.

That’s why we’ve created a completely new website. It’s good news for us and good news for you, as it really highlights how we can best help you with all your event transport needs. Win-win.

It’s good news for us and good news for you, as it really highlights how we can best help you with all your event transport needs. Win-win.

Win-win.

Why do we have a new site?

The Stagefreight website has been redeveloped as part of our new investment program.

We’re investing in our website, in our fleet and our staff to ensure you get to continue to get an experienced and friendly service from us.

Something you’ll notice is that our new site offers much more content than before, and will help you see how Stagefreight can support you getting your event equipment to its destination on time- every time.

Over the years, we’ve developed our skills in a number of specialties; we have plenty of experience with live events in the arts sector, such as concerts and stage productions.

We can transport all your materials safely and swiftly, ensuring they arrive in perfect order all over the UK and we also do long haul trips across Europe and beyond.

Once at your event we’ll remain on site to help with unloading and ensure the event starts smoothly. We’re with you every step of the way.

Our years of know-how is also applicable to other sectors. We have a deep understanding of stage equipment, which means we can outfit corporate conferences and speakers’ appointments as easily as sold-out concerts.

In short, we’ve worked with many clients across the entertainment industry and grown our skills throughout, and our new site reflects that better than ever.

What will I find on the new site?

For your convenience we’ve divided the site into several key sections:

The Services page has a summary of all the ways we can help you. We can transport materials for many different events including exhibitions, conferences and theatre productions. You can use our services for one-off events or on a long-term basis as required.

The Our Work page brings together all our case studies in one place. Like the Services page, our case studies cover all the sectors we work in. Learn about what we do firsthand, how we’ve helped others and see how we can help you!

The About Us page gives a brief overview of our business and history. If you want to know what Stagefreight is in a nutshell, this is the perfect place to start.

The News page lets you read about our latest exploits, thoughts and passions. We love to share what we’re up to and what we’re all about. The most recent stories are always at the top, and you can, of course, read older news stories.

The Contact page allows you to send us a written message quickly and easily. Simply fill in your contact details, write your message and send it off! We’ll reply to you as soon as possible.

How was it created?

Our new website was developed by electric, an integrated marketing agency on the outskirts of Leeds.

We worked closely with electric while they were putting the site together, and they went to great lengths to understand our business beforehand.

With that knowledge of our industry and key services, electric constructed a new website from scratch while leaving the old one intact.

This ensured that our business (and your queries) weren’t affected by the site’s redevelopment.

Together, we made sure that the new website was easy to use, while also reflecting who we are as a brand. We also ensured it looked better than ever thanks to a bold new visual direction.

Have a look around to get the feel of our new vibe.

As well as having a bright, attractive colour scheme, the new website features striking animation.

We feel this is an excellent way to make our site stand out, and nicely reflects our passion and experience in the art and theatre sectors.

So what are you waiting for?

Explore our new website, and send us any comments or inquiries via the new Contact page!