Orwell Bridge bathes in red light as Ipswich companies Green Spark and Gofer join Red Alert campaign

The Orwell Bridge glowed red last night to show support to the events industry which is among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ipswich-based companies Green Spark, which provides stages, screens and sound for business events, and Gofer, which provides silent generators and lighting for events, were behind the stunt which saw the 1.2 kilometre bridge bathed in red light.

It comes as those within the events industry are asking the Government for support to help them survive the economic impact of Covid-19.

Nic Forsdike, managing director of Gofer, said: "It is not just large high profile events that are affected. There are thousands of small companies involved in the events supply chain with a highly skilled workforce that we are in danger of losing."

The campaign as been dubbed the 'Red Alert' and aims to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by the live events sector which has seen one million employees out of work for more than four months already.

Adam Clark, managing director of Green Spark, said: "In March we saw a whole year's worth of work get cancelled. We provide production services for business events and the likelihood is that it will be some time before we see face to face events happening again.

"This industry won't survive if it doesn't receive help soon."