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TECHNICAL CREW AND ONSITE TECHNICIAN SUPPORT FOR THE LONDON BOROUGH OF HACKNEY’S WINDRUSH DAY 2026 COMMEMORATIVE CEREMONY AT HACKNEY TOWN HALL
EMS Events supplied a technical crew of three, comprising one dedicated onsite technician and a two-person setup and breakdown crew, to install, operate and derig the London Borough of Hackney’s own AV equipment for its Windrush Day 2026 commemorative ceremony, held in the Assembly Rooms at Hackney Town Hall on Monday 22 June 2026.
Client
London Borough of Hackney
Event
Windrush Day 2026 commemorative ceremony, Monday 22 June 2026 (16:30 to 20:00)
Location
Hackney Town Hall, Mare Street, London E8 1EA (Assembly Rooms)
Scope
Technical crew services only. One dedicated on-site technician for the length of the ceremony, a two-person setup crew installing the client's own AV package from 13:00, and a two-person breakdown crew for same-day derig and vault storage after 20:00. All AV equipment is client-owned
THE TECHNICAL SERVICES BRIEF
The London Borough of Hackney held its Windrush Day 2026 commemorative ceremony at Hackney Town Hall on Monday 22 June, marking the national day of remembrance for the arrival of the Windrush Generation. The ceremony was held in the Assembly Rooms at the civic building on Mare Street, with guest arrival from 16:30 and the ceremony running through to 20:00.
The council has invested in its own in-house AV package for its civic events. For the Windrush Day ceremony, the council needed a trained technical crew to install the equipment ahead of guest arrival, run the live technical operation during the ceremony, and clear the setup back into vault storage the same evening.
EMS Events was appointed to supply the crew and technician side of the day. The scope covered a two-person setup crew from 13:00, one dedicated onsite technician for the length of the ceremony from 16:30 through 20:00, and a two-person breakdown crew returning at 20:00 for a same-day derig and handover of the equipment into the venue’s vault storage downstairs from the Assembly Rooms.
About Windrush Day And Hackney Town Hall Assembly Rooms
Windrush Day is a national UK day of commemoration marked on 22 June each year, the anniversary of the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in 1948. The day honours the contribution of the Windrush Generation, the Caribbean migrants who arrived in Britain from the late 1940s onwards to help rebuild the country after the Second World War, and their descendants across the decades since. The day is marked by local authorities, cultural institutions and community organisations across the country.
The London Borough of Hackney is one of the boroughs with a long-standing Caribbean-heritage community, and its Windrush Day ceremony is a significant event in the borough’s civic calendar.
Hackney Town Hall is the civic building on Mare Street in Hackney, serving as the seat of the borough’s council. Its Assembly Rooms are among the more substantial civic ceremonial spaces in East London, used for full-council meetings, civic ceremonies, weddings, cultural events and community gatherings.
EMS Events' crew on site (one technician, two setup and breakdown crew)
Presentation screens synchronised across the room
Speakers coordinated as one sound setup
Installing, Running, and Clearing The Client's Own AV Package Inside A Working Town Hall
The production brief was different from a typical AV delivery. The London Borough of Hackney owns its in-house AV package for its civic events and needed a trained technical crew to install, operate, and clear the equipment on the day, rather than a supplier bringing their own kit.
The crew was working with client-owned hardware from arrival. In the Assembly Rooms, this covered two 86-inch main monitors positioned to the left and right of the venue stage, two 50-inch relay monitors, four presentation screens, all requiring the same synchronised video from the client’s laptop, a sound desk with wireless receivers for the microphones, three handheld microphones on stands, and six speakers coordinated as one sound setup for the room.
The three-person crew had a working window between the 13:00 arrival and the 16:30 doors to install, cable, test, and cue the setup before guests arrived.
Delivering The Technical Services Across The Day
EMS Events treated the Hackney brief as a professional services delivery, focusing on people rather than equipment. One project plan covered the setup crew’s arrival, the installation of the client’s AV package, the live technical operation throughout the ceremony, and the same-day derig and vault handover, with the dedicated on-site technician serving as the single technical point of contact for the client’s team throughout the evening.
The Setup Crew Installing The Client-Owned AV Package From 13:00
Our two-person crew arrived at Hackney Town Hall Assembly Rooms at 13:00, three and a half hours ahead of the 16:30 guest arrival, to install the client’s own AV equipment.
The build covered the two 86-inch main monitors positioned to the left and right of the venue stage, the two 50-inch relay monitors, the four presentation screens, all requiring the same video feed from the client’s laptop, the six-speaker sound setup, the sound desk, the wireless microphone receivers, XLR audio cabling, HDMI runs and extension leads.
Moving from the vault storage downstairs through to installation and cable-run in the Assembly Rooms upstairs, the crew had the full setup live, tested and cued for the client’s laptop content ahead of doors opening.
The Synchronised Setup: Four Screens, Six Speakers, Three Handhelds As One System
The technical detail of the setup was in the synchronisation. All four presentation screens needed to display the same video content from the client’s laptop so that any guest in the room, regardless of seating position, could see the ceremony content clearly on the nearest display.
Alongside the screens, the six-speaker sound setup needed to give even audio coverage across the Assembly Rooms, with the wireless receivers configured to receive from the three handheld microphones supplied on stands for hosts and speakers.
Coordinating the video distribution chain, the audio routing, the wireless microphone frequencies and the speaker levels into one integrated system was the technical work of the setup window ahead of doors.
The Dedicated Technician Running The Ceremony Live From 16:30
A dedicated EMS Events’ technician was on site for the length of the ceremony, from before the 16:30 doors through to the 20:00 close of the event.
During the ceremony, the technician managed the live audio mix, handled microphone changeovers between hosts and speakers, kept the video content playing smoothly across the four synchronised screens, and monitored sound levels throughout the room during the evening.
The technician also acted as the single technical point of contact for the client’s team on the day, giving the London Borough of Hackney one person to coordinate with for any adjustments, cue calls, or content changes during the ceremony’s running order.
Same-Day Breakdown And Vault Storage Handover After 20:00
At 20:00, at the close of the ceremony, the our crew returned to derig the client’s equipment on the same working day. The two-person crew handled the takedown of the screens, microphone receivers, sound desk and cabling infrastructure, and coordinated the return of the equipment to vault storage downstairs from the Assembly Rooms.
Working with the venue’s technical contact for vault access, the crew ensured all client-owned equipment was returned to secure storage before leaving site.
The two-hour derig window meant Hackney’s civic building was cleared and ready for the following day’s use, with the AV package back in its own vault storage.
THE DAY, FROM 13:00 CREW ARRIVAL TO 20:00 DERIG
The technical services were delivered as a single, integrated on-site operation throughout the working day at Hackney Town Hall.
PRE-PRODUCTION
Planning covered the crew rota across setup, live operation, and derig, coordination with the venue's technical contact for vault storage access, and confirmation of the client's AV equipment inventory ahead of arrival on site.
SETUP FROM 13:00
Our crew arrived at 13:00, three and a half hours before the guests' arrival. Installation, cabling, and testing of the client's AV package were completed ahead of the 16:30 opening.
CEREMONY 16:30 TO 20:00
The dedicated onsite technician managed the live audio, video and microphone operation across the ceremony from 16:30 through to the 20:00 close, as the single technical point of contact for the London Borough of Hackney's team.
DERIG AND VAULT STORAGE
The breakdown crew returned at 20:00 for a same-day derig. The client's equipment was cleared from the Assembly Rooms and returned to vault storage downstairs, coordinated with the venue's technical contact.
Client Feedback
Honestly, having a crew we could just trust to come in and get on with it made the whole day so much easier. Our kit, our venue, our ceremony, but their people running the tech side of it, and it just worked. They knew what they were doing from the moment they arrived. The setup was ready well before guests came in, the tech ran cleanly through the ceremony, and everything was cleared and back downstairs by the end of the evening. Good team, good communication, and we'd be very happy to have them back for future civic events.
HOW THE CEREMONY RAN
The technical services supported the full running order of the London Borough of Hackney’s Windrush Day 2026 commemorative ceremony, from guest arrival at 16:30 through to the 20:00 close.
The client’s own AV equipment was installed, cabled, tested, and cued by the EMS Events’ setup crew in the working window between 13:00 and doors. All four presentation screens ran the same synchronised video content across the ceremony, the six-speaker sound setup gave the Assembly Rooms even audio coverage from front to back, and the three wireless handheld microphones ran cleanly through the running order for the hosts and speakers.
The dedicated technician managed the live technical operation across the length of the ceremony, handling microphone changeovers, sound levels and video content transitions in step with the flow of the event, and serving as the single point of contact for the client’s team on the day.
At the close, the breakdown crew derigged the client’s equipment and coordinated its return into vault storage downstairs. By supplying the crew and technician side of the day rather than the equipment, EMS Events gave the London Borough of Hackney the trained personnel to install, run and clear its own in-house AV package cleanly across the ceremony.
Have Your Own Audio Visual Equipment and Need Trained Crew To Install And Run It?
EMS Events supplies technical crew, dedicated onsite technicians, and setup and breakdown personnel for local authority events, civic ceremonies, cultural events and private hires at venues across London, working with the client’s own AV equipment or ours. From single-technician cover for a client-owned system through to full multi-space crew rotas, EMS Events tailors the service to the format and the venue.