Waltham Abbey’s Town Hall was designed in the Art Nouveau fashion with a tower in the style of a French chateau, built by a local contractor and opened in 1904.  In 1914 the building was converted for use as a Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital for the duration of the war.  The building to this day remains the meeting place of Waltham Abbey Town Council.

The Hall had often been used for parties, weddings and performances by local drama groups, but in 2021 the Town Council opened the building up as a live entertainment venue with seating for an audience of 250.  With a programme of bands, concerts, themed nights and comedy acts planned, Clarity was tasked in 2022 with modernising the theatrical lighting system in the Hall. 

The old lanterns were removed from the ceiling lighting bar and three new lighting bars were mounted at high-level on the stage and one to each side wall.  From these a mixture of LED Pars, Fresnels and Profiles were installed to provide a wide range of lighting effects.  In addition, The Town Hall opted to include disco lighting effects, a follow-spot and a lighting control desk to make the system versatile for all manner of events.

A remote wall mounted control panel was installed to allow simple static lighting scenes to be set at the touch of a button.  This allows anyone to use the system with ease without needing to connect the lighting desk.  The system can also be operated by an iPad with the screen layout customised to the Town Hall requirements.  Following the new lighting installation the Slim Jim Phantom Trio were one of the first to make use of the colourful LED lighting which, as you can see from the photographs below taken by the Town Clerk, greatly enhanced the mood of the evening!

“We had the Slim Jim Phantom Trio here on Sunday night and the lights were great as you can see – what a difference it makes!”Liz Cody, Deputy Town Clerk