Maltbury
New distributor for Maltbury
5th Sep 2007 - 11:03:11
A theatre supplies company based in the East Midlands with over 70 years combined experience in the field, has become a new distributor for Maltbury.
Mercia Theatre Services was founded in 1989 by husband and wife team Simon and Christine Nickerson to offer sales, hire and installation of lighting, sound and stage equipment to a diverse range of customers in North West Leicestershire, East Staffordshire and South Derbyshire. More recently a mail order service effectively now reaches out to the whole of the UK.
Managing Partner Simon Nickerson, 57, has been involved with the technical aspects of the theatre since the tender age of 8, when he assisted the switchboard operator for a production of T S Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral in his home town of Ryde, Isle of Wight. Specialising in the early part of his career in lighting, he entered the industry in 1971 by joining the staff of the renown Frederick Bentham – often regarded as the father of British stage lighting – at the head office of Strand Electric, then situated at King Street, in the heart of London’s theatreland. Subsequently Simon worked for other leading lighting manufacturers and hire contractors before setting up his own business, Mercia Theatre Services, first at Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire, then relocated in 1991 to nearby Coalville in Leicestershire. He is ably supported by his wife and fellow partner, Christine, who has had 35 years experience in the retail trade. She is responsible for the company’s stage make-up mail order activities, which is constantly busy.
Also on board at Mercia is Simon’s long-standing colleague Bob Massey, who is the company’s technical consultant. Bob has also had a lifetime's experience in the industry, working with Thorn Lighting, W J Furse and Colortran. He runs his own technical theatre consultancy based in Nottingham, where he also finds time to be the senior technician at the Bonington Theatre, Arnold. Bob’s huge experience in the area of stage design and technical specification encompasses over 4,000 installations world wide.
“We were delighted to add Maltbury to the portfolio of products we offer our customers”, said Simon. “Having dealt with many other similar products in the past, all of which have proved ultimately disappointing for a variety of reasons, Maltbury modular staging systems to us stand out like a beacon, if not a bench mark against which others should be judged”, he added. “British designed and built, we have been thoroughly impressed at the quality and versatility of the Maltbury range”.
No sooner had Mercia taken on Maltbury last Christmas than they were asked to provide apron staging at the Memorial Hall in the delightful village of Hanbury in Staffordshire. “Our previous decidedly Heath Robinson set-up of home-made wooden sections was thoroughly past its sell-by date, and not a little dangerous too,” commented hall committee member John Watkin. “With a full-scale pantomime coming up in January we decided that this was the opportunity to address the problem by finding a professional solution that would meet our needs for many years to come. We got in touch with Simon Nickerson at Mercia Theatre Services and he immediately recommended the Metrodeck system, and after he’d arranged for us to look at the same system in use by the Peakland Players at Ashbourne a few miles from here, we were instantly sold on getting Metrodeck for ourselves.” Simon picks up the story: “What our Hanbury customers were particularly impressed with was the easy rigging and de-rigging of Metrodeck in a hall where, like so many others up and down the country, there was a need to be able to do this exercise easily because the venue has a multiplicity of users. They also liked the fact that their Metrodeck could easily double up as a stage apron or could become part of a multi level stage set for the local am. dram. to name but two of many potential uses. Mr Watkin and his team were clearly thrilled with their Metrodeck purchase, and a satisfied customer always gives us a real buzz!”
Mercia Theatre Services, P O Box 2222, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 2YW
Tel: 01530 263454
Fax: 01530 260206
Email: merciatheatre@aol.com