The schools go back and the phone keeps ringing. That catches people out who assume the event season ends with August, but September and the weeks either side are one of the busier stretches in our diary: corporate fun days, weddings, university welcome weeks and the charity events that run into the autumn all land after the summer holidays have technically finished, and the September kit list looks much like July's, with more gazebos on it.
The bookings that still arrive in September
Corporate work carries on well past the bank holiday. We have put funfair games out for summer work BBQs, where the report back was that communication ran smoothly from start to finish and everything arrived on time, and we have run engagement events, family fun days and university welcome week activity at Hull Sport Campus more than once. Those bookings tend to be midweek, which is handy, because it spreads the load across the calendar and saves everything piling onto the same Saturdays as the village galas. Anyone planning the student side of it can see the shape of the offer on the freshers fair page.
Charity events that run into the autumn
One fixture of the late-summer diary is the Alzheimer's Society Memory Walk series, which takes place at venues across the UK through the autumn. We have been asked to help deliver it, working alongside Staging Events to build out the event villages, and on the day itself our team helps distribute water and medals to the walkers. It is a bigger logistical job than it sounds from the outside: signage, power, staging and queues of several thousand people, all of it put up the morning before the first walkers set off. If you want to walk yourself, registration runs through the Alzheimer's Society website at memorywalk.org.uk.
Charity walks and fundraisers in general run late into the year, and the kit that suits them is mostly infrastructure. For one sponsored walk we supplied seven gazebos, a PA system and a branded gantry for the start line, which is a typical shopping list for that sort of morning: shelter for the registration desks, something to make the announcements over and a branded backdrop for the photographs. The event extras range covers the smaller items that hold an event village together.
Weddings after the school holidays
September is a strong month for weddings, and the kit that goes to them is smaller than people expect. One couple, Kate Fletcher, hired Connect 4 and giant Jenga for their wedding and told us afterwards that "the games really helped make our wedding", and a PA system with a bouncy castle is a combination we have supplied more than once. Venues around Sheffield, Doncaster and Chesterfield take this sort of setup without blinking, and the wedding entertainment range gives a feel for the options. The caveat worth flagging is the weather: a September wedding needs a gazebo or a marquee on standby, because the forecast four weeks out means nothing.
What the kit looks like in late summer
The same stock that works in July works in September, with two adjustments. First, cover: gazebos and marquees travel out with more bookings once the evenings draw in. Second, light: an event that ran four hours in daylight in June runs two of them in the dark by late September, so the PA and music section gets busier, and generators cover the fields where there is no mains supply. For companies planning an end-of-season do, the corporate entertainment range runs from side games up to the full funday setup.
Everything goes out on our own transport from South Yorkshire, and the nationwide delivery page lists how far that reaches. If your event sits after the school holidays and you want to know what is free on your date, ask the office on 0114 345 0135 or send the details through and we will come back with options and prices.
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