Exhibits – Theatrecrafts.com

Rescued from the former ABC Cinema in Blackpool this is a great example in very good condition. After being on display in the foyer at LS-Live, Yorkshire, it can now be found in the wonderful Production Park facility in Wakefield.

The System CD at the ABC Blackpool had 120 dimmer channels, with 48 circuits FOH and 72 circuits on stage. There was no patching, 2 presets (electro-mechanical servo system) and 14 groups.

Mark Jackson, of Brilliant Automation, based at Production Park said in April 2017:
"I have been collecting lighting desks for some time and was first told of the CD console by one of our installation guys who was installing truss in the Syndicate night club, formerly the ABC. Interior walls were being taken out during the refurbishment of the venue and this allowed the console to be removed and brought outside. It would have gone into a skip with all the building rubbish but it was too heavy to lift. When our man on site called me and described it I knew straight away what it was. I contacted the owners of the club and asked if we could have it. We collected it the following day. When it arrived it was in a terrible state covered in plaster and cement. I cannot recall exactly when this was, but it was before our main studio was built so pre 2005. It was painstakingly restored cosmetically by our night security man Billy Angel. It was completed just as our studio opened and so was put on display in the studio foyer."

See the ABC Blackpool page to read about Alan Ashton, a board operator from 1963, who fondly remembers the System CD and has some stories about its' installation.