Ian Stewart Blog

Now gigging wise, this has been one of my quietest weeks for a long time, with just the one gig.

Saturday night, I was booked to provide the disco and also do the auction at a charity ball at Stock Brook Manor in Billericay Essex, they charity had also booked my wife Sharon to sing for an hour.

we arrived at the venue in plenty of time, so that we could set up the disco, also wire Sharon's reverb and mini disc player into my system, so that Sharon could sing using my equipment, that way only one system would be needed and the room looked a lot more tidy. I also had to install a couple of extra speakers into the main part of the room, so that everyone could hear the bids etc for the auction.

We were set in plenty of time, and had a quick run through the running order with the two girls organising the evening, so the meal started with a small introduction from Lisa, one of the organisors, a little bit of house keeping, about the raffle, heads & tails and auction.

and what a marvelous night it was, a great game of heads & tails, then the raffle, followed by a great auction the high light being a £1,000 for a dinner for 10 at Ingatestone Hall, and the surprise being the £290 for a signed Chelmsford City Ball, I thought it would be a struggle, so devised a differant auction game to get the most out of the item.

Once the room was ready we started the dancing, and between Sharon & I we had the dancefloor full all night with some great music played as well.

Once the evening was over we'd managed to raise over £5,000 on the night

GOOD LUCK GIRLS with your walk accross Brazil

well todays blog is about my Friday,

Well we woke up at the usual time, with a couple of errands that we needed to do, so I looked after the paperwork that needed to be done, printed off the playlist for Murray's gig in the evening and left for an afternoon in Brighton, which has got to be one of my favourite places.

I had to return 4 LED uplighters that I had borrowed from a DJ colleague of mine, we arrived at lunch time, had a nice cup of tea, and a chat were we put the world and DJ industry to rights, then a short drive into Brighton, and a nice walk around the Lanes followed by a meal in the famous soul food restaurant (the one featured on the Gordan Ramsey show).

We then had an hours drive to The Faifield Halls, Croydon for the Main event, we saw the Mighty Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, I had never seen this band, and had always wanted wanted to see them. This was the opening night of their short UK tour and WOW what a night, all the classics were played;

Before I Let Go
Running Away
Back In Stride
Happy Feelings
Southern Girl
Golden Time Of Day
and of Course Joy & Pain

I no this blog is a little off from my normal work related musings, but I wanted to put on record what a superb night it was

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this has been a very busy start to the month for me, without much time to keep the blog upto day, where shall I start, well as they say the beginning is always a good place so here goes:

Monday 1st September
Now normally I only ever DJ on a Monday if it is a bank holiday, but today was an exception, after racing back from Ipswich the night before I was at Stock Brook Manor, in the Rosewood Suite, I had to arrive very early as the couple had also asked me to be their Master Of Ceremonies / Toastmaster, so I arrived at the venue at 11am, to make sure that I was all set before the bride & groom ariived at the venue.

We had a fantastic day and a lot of fun as well, you would not have thought it was a Monday the way the guests were partying.

This was followed by a day off for some welcome rest before returning to Stock Brook Manor on

Wednesday 3rd September

The Essex Chamber Of Commerce had asked me to help out on a breakfast meeting they had in association with the London Fire Brigade, so the alarm sounded at a time I did not know Excisted 5am, as I had to be at the venue for 6am, so I could have the speakers, microphones & projectors all set up, this was done in plenty of time to assist the Essex Fire Brigade with their presentation.

Thursday 4th September
This was a busy day with two disco's being booked at Stock Brook, in the Rosewood suite a DJ was required for a wedding for a lovely couple, and in The Banqueting Suite, a DJ and LED Colour wash uplighters requited to Support a Take That Tribute called "Fake That"

I DJ'd the wedding and Murray DJ'd the Fake That night, both nights packed to capacity and full dancefloors all round, but I had to be on my toes, as my PC crashed, but as I always have a back up with me, I just switched over so no one knew there was a problem, and the night carried on without interuption

Friday 5th September

Another Road trip, this time to Brentwood to a venue I used to work at years ago it used to be called the New World Inn, and back in the day I DJ'd singles nights there, but now it has the more elegant name of "De Rougemont Manor", this was really nice as it turns out I'd been reccomended by 2 very dear old Friends Richard & Michelle Smith, it was really nice to bump into them again.

Saturday 6th September
Back to my home, a Disco for a wedding at Essex's premier venue, Stock Brook Manor! this was for a bride I'd had loads of contact with, as since she had booked me for her wedding, she had reccomended me to quite a few of her friends, so as a thank you, i attended the venue very early so I could take some pictures to display on my Screen so the evening guests could see everything that had happened during the day, this went down really well.

I then returned to the venue for a 7pm start, so we could rock the party.

That night I also had 2 other DJ's booked out, Murray was at the REd Lion in Billericay High Street, and Colin in Hornchurch

Monday 7th September
this my normal paperwork day, so I started to raise invoices, prepare music lists etc, when the phone rang, it was the videographer for the wedding I did n saturday, telling me that he was very impresses with the look of my rig, and the set up, and allo the way I made everything happen at the wedding, I thanked him for his kind words, he then went on to tell me he was also the sales & marketing manager for a prestigious golf club just outside Suffolk, and would I be interested iin becoming the reccomended DJ for all their events, of course I accepted, and I have already received my first booking from them, for an event on 24th January next year, my 44th Birthday

Friday 12th September
Another Early start for me with a breakfast meeting at Stock Brook Manor for the Essex Branch Of The Institute Of Directors, for a talk from a very inspirational woman, who had become the quickest woman to walk unaided to the south pole, mad me feel like a real loser.

Then home for what I hoped was a little rest, but turned out I had to sort out a few deliveries of some new equipment, then off to Langdon Hills Golf Club to supply the disco for a 50th Birthday of an old Client, a new venue for me, and a very nice tidy small place ideal for functions of about 100 people

Saturday 13th September
Now I always new this was going to be a monstrous day, I even resigned myself to missing my 2nd home game of the season at Southend United, as I had to undertake project "LED Uplighter", which is a new think for me, where I can uplight the walls within any room or marguee to any colur you wish, have a look here I can even get them to flash in time to the music like this but this was going to be biggest job yet, 24 lights in one room, these were needed for an open day at Stock Book Manor on Monday, as I did not know how long it was going to take, I'd arranged with the bride in the room for my wedding on Saturday to have them in place and in return she would have free use of them.

So we arrived at the venue, a van full of lights cable and gaffa tape, this took Sharon & I nearly three hours, but oy was it worth it, the room looked fantastic.

Sunday 14th September
A chance for me to sell my wares, at Stock Brook Manors open day, I must have met with over 50 couples who all loved the disco and the uplighters, and many bookings were taken

Monday 15th September
Day 2 of the open day, this one was for all the brides who had already booked weddings at the venue, and a chance for me to show them exactly what I can do for them, I had loads of positive comments about the uplighters and disco, and once again many bookings taked, looks like 2009 & 10 are going to very busy years