LeightonBuzz.com

Question Time

2010-03-27T03:19:00.001-07:00

Last night (Friday 26^th March) we put your questions to Andrew Selous and Jenny Bone who are two for the candidates in the general election. It went really well and looked good on camera and it was very interesting. I now have a better understanding of how the election all works; I am not ashamed to admit that I get a bit lost with it all but now have a much better understanding! We had some great questions submitted on development of Leighton Buzzard, Education, Commuting, MPs second homes and Buzzer Buses to name a few. All the answer very interesting and give us, the voters, food for though. As soon as the footage is edited we will be bringing it to you on this website. A massive 'thanks' to them and the LBtv members who gave up their time to help out.

I had to leave before the end of the interviews as I was heading to Leighton Buzzard Theatre to watch the LB Drama Group's production of Season's Greetings. I am literally downloading the content from the camera and my full review will be on Show 2 on the 7^th April. A little sneak peek: It was really good, very funny and entertaining! (The play, not my review!)

We are getting really close to show 2 and there is still so much to do. We have to work on promoting the show to make sure as many people as possible know it is on. We have produced some flyers which I have already spotted around LB. The LBtv Group have another meeting Monday so we will discuss it then.

LB Drama Group – Break a leg

2010-03-25T11:07:00.001-07:00

I was delighted to attend the final dress rehearsal of the LB Dram Group's production of Season's Greetings last night. The whole cast made me very welcome and I managed to get some interviews before they all jumped into character for the final full rehearsal. I was very impressed with the set that was built by Nigel Carnell, who Chairman of the group, it looked fantastic and really wetted my appetite to see the play on Friday evening. To the whole cast for tonight: Break a leg!

We are all set to record the interviews with the potential candidates to represent us in Parliament. I may be wrong but as it stands now we still have not have a representative from the Liberal Democrat Party. This may not still be the case but at the time of writing this blog I am afraid it is. There is still time for you to submit your questions though. Check out the homepage: www.leightonbuzz.com

At LBtv we are always looking for ideas and suggestions of stories that we can cover. One of the latest suggestions is to find out about the tunnels that apparently run under the High Street. I must admit that I have never heard about them before but many other locals have and say they are shrouded in mystery. So have you heard about them? Have you been in them? Do you have any photos? If you know anything about them then we want to hear from you. Get in touch the usual ways J

Dress rehearsal

2010-03-24T07:55:00.001-07:00

I am off tonight to meet the LB Dram Group and interview some of them before tomorrow night's first performance of Season's Greetings. I am really excited and can't wait to see the show. You will be able to see my review in Show 2 on the 7^th April.

The LB News published an article today about the upcoming interviews with the candidates from the main 3 political parties. If you have done so already, please submit your questions.

Meeting tonight...

2010-03-22T15:18:00.001-07:00

The LBtv group met again tonight to prepare for show 2. Things are starting to come together for the show; there is still some filming to do and lots of editing. We have some really interesting items and I can't wait for everyone to see them!

One of the great things about our meetings since we aired show 1 is that we are discussing how to video, tips for filming and editing techniques rather than when, how and where to do the show. We have always said that once we get show one done and dusted, the other shows will come far easier. This certainly seems the case.

I am preparing for an item this week. I will be going along to watch and review Leighton Buzzard Drama Group's production of Season's Greetings. The show is on from Thursday 25^th until 27^th at the theatre in Lake Street. I am really excited, I know the group have been working really hard on the production and I am sure it will be really good. Of course, as a reviewer I will be completely honest but I just have a good feeling about the play. It will be the first time in over 10 years since I have done something "to camera" so I am quite nervous too.

We welcomed a new member to the LBtv family tonight. Leighton Buzzard resident Tom Daly joins the group after being introduced by our very own Mick Flynn. Tom has an interest in making videos and was telling us about some of the films he has done which sound great. We hope to get some on the website or on the show really soon.

Great support from the community

2010-03-22T08:12:00.001-07:00

I spoke to Jessica Cunniffe from the LB News today about our election special. There is a chance this might be in the paper on Wednesday. I think the support we get from the community is fantastic. I know I am always going on about it and thanking different people but without this support we would find things very hard.

Talking of support...A while ago during an LBtv meeting it was suggested that we have a PayPal 'donate' button for people who want to help and donate. I have added this button to the home page of our site. Although we have done us best to keep costs to an absolute minimum there are times when we do/will need money. For example, if we want to borrow a location (say, a village hall) to do interviews then we would need to pay to hire it or buying batteries for the microphones or paying for some posters to be printed...although these are not huge sums they still would currently come from our own pockets. Maybe we need to do a telethon? ;)

If you have any suggestions how we can raise funds then let me know.

Yohan – The Tribute

2010-03-21T13:16:00.001-07:00

In LBtv show 1 the public decided that Lee Malone should dress up and perform in Leighton Buzzard as a one man tribute to Yohan, the man known as 'The Guitar Man of Leighton Buzzard'.

I am pleased to announce that this will be taking place very soon and the footage will be show on Show 2 on the 7^th April at 8pm.

So if you happen to be round Leighton Buzzard High Street this week you may see Lee. If you do, feel free to say hello!

Also, if you have a suggestion or a challenge for Lee, let us know and maybe your suggestion will be put to the public vote!

Want to be an LB MP?

2010-03-21T03:43:00.000-07:00

The LBtv are finalising details for a series of shows about the upcoming general election. In these show we are giving the people of Leighton Linslade the opportunity to ask the Parliamentary Candidates from the 3 main political parties in the area questions on local or national issues. The viewers are able to submit questions via the website, via Twitter @leightonbuzz or just email them to tv@leightonbuzz.com

The shows will be recorded next week and aired soon after.

We are still making preparations for LBtv part 2. The team are filming and editing and I have been working on new a new animated ‘contact us’ graphic.

The LBtv team meet again this Monday at the fantastic Ashwell Arms to continue working on plans for the show. We hope to have some posters out soon so look out for them!

Election special

2010-03-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

The LBtv group are currently organising a very special show in preparation for the general election. We are still finalising details but we want your questions to put to the candidates for our area.

We will have more information soon so start thinking of those questions!!

A quick update...

2010-03-15T03:07:00.000-07:00

Just a quick couple of updates....

The LBtv Team were out and about over the weekend recording some content for show 2. They spent time on Saturday at the Oxjam event at the High Street. From what I hear it was a great event, I look forward to seeing the footage!

Once again I would like to thank the LB-News for their coverage of the show. It was a great article and helped raised our profile a bit...which is always good! It is always interesting how the hits on the site always go up if we are mentioned in the press or on a forum etc.

The LBtv group are due to meet this week to share some skills. Between us we are going to have some mini-workshops on camera work, editing and web design.

We are about to arrange an interview with a former boxer who has been doing some work with a local charity. Not sure when this will happen but I will keep you posted.

In the words of Mick Flynn on his LBt(v) outtakes: “that’s all folks”

Are you watching this space?

2010-03-09T13:56:00.000-08:00

The LBtv group met last night. It was the first time we had met since the live show and everyone still seemed to think it was a good idea to continue and make another show!

Now we have finally produced a show it makes the meeting much easier. Rather than discussing what we could do and how it will work we were able to get down to the important things like content and a date for show 2.

Show 2 will go out live on Wednesday 7^th April at 8pm.

The entire group had ideas and suggestions on how we can improve the show which means you guys, the viewers, are in for a real treat! One of the suggested ideas was to reduce then length of the videos and have a bit more ‘live’

We came up with around 14 suggested items for the show so we are now frantically working on those and making preparations. We will be making a video in Saturday at the Market Cross, our interactive presenter Hannah will be performing so if you are about, pop over and say hi! The event is part of the fantastic Oxjam.

Until we have insurance we are going to have to keep live content and the adventurous creation of videos/content to minimum to reduce risk. We are working on an editorial policy which is part of the requirements for getting liability insurance – All quite boring very necessary!

The group also decided that we are going to use the skills amongst us to help each other. We are going to get together soon and hold workshops on filming/using a camera, editing and web design. These skills are really useful and it is great we are able to share them with each other. The next plan is to hold a workshop and invite anyone to attend. Another opportunity for me to use the following phrase on this blog again: Watch This Space....is becoming a bit of a catchphrase!

I have finally edited the show using the back-up tapes. It seems to have taken forever! I now need to find a site that will host the video and allow us to embed it on our site. YouTube is the obvious answer but the show is around 45+ minutes, YouTube only allows a maximum of 10 minutes. I tried a site called MegaUpload.com but there are loads of restriction there too...I will look more closely to see if it could work. Watch this space ;-)

LBtv meeting tonight...

2010-03-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

There is an LBtv meeting tonight at 7:30 at The Ashwell Arms in Leighton Buzzard. Top of the agenda is show 2 and preparations for it. I was out in the garden yesterday thinking how nice it would be to do one outside!?

I think the group want to look at the format of the show tonight and how many videos we put out, plus it would be nice to have some live guests...let's see what the others say.

We also have had a couple of suggestions for shows so watch this space!

I am still working on getting the video of show 1 online, it should here here/there soon.

An evening with...

2010-03-06T03:46:00.000-08:00

I was in London on Friday, nothing to do with LBtv but I got the pleasure of commuting there and back and was very impressed by the trains and service. Ok it was very expensive but the train arrived on time and less than 30 minutes later I was in London and I even managed to get a seat. This is so different from when I had to commute every day between LB and London for work and was forever late or tired from having to stand all the time. Although yesterday I travelled off-peak it just reminded me of another great reason of how lucky we are to have a train line running from our ‘home’

While I was in London I had an opportunity to have a walk up Tottenham Court Road and have a look in some of the electrical shops. I cannot believe how expensive some of the broadcast equipment is! It makes the fact that we put LBtv show 1 on for a huge budget of virtually £0 even more impressive!

Friday evening LBtv was invited to a very special event to get some footage. It was hosted by an amazing lady from Leighton Buzzard called Nicole Witts. Nicole unfortunately suffered from a brain tumour a few years ago and thankfully, now recovered she decided to raise awareness. Her first event was held at LB Golf Club in aid of brain tumour action and was a huge success and completely sold out. More information and a video will be posted as soon as we get some time to edit the video. Also attending the event was local MP Andrew Selous...LBtv got the chance to catch up with so look out for some news about an upcoming possible feature ;-)

LBplayer? BUZZi?

2010-03-05T02:04:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the process of gathering the footage of the from the streaming site, which automatically records and saves it, and trying to get format it so it can be watch again on the site.

For some reason the recorded files are all over the place, one minute the show starts then its back to the countdown clock AND the entire footage is about 2 hours long. I am sure we only did about 50 minutes! Luckily we have the whole thing on tape. I just need access to a Macbook Pro so I can put the show together.

Another interesting thought - we are going to allow people to view the show again on the site. So what should we call that part? The BBC have the iPlayer, ITV have the itv player - what should we call it? BUZZi? LBplayer? Have you got an idea for us? Let us know.

We are still getting ideas coming in for new shows. I will keep you posted!

Ian

Video for the show?

2010-03-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

Do you have a video for the this website? Do you have an idea for a video? Let us know and get in touch!

Show one is finally, as they say, is in the can!

2010-03-04T09:22:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a really busy day. I had a couple of videos to edit and needed to create some graphics for the show and set up the ‘studio’. There seems to be so much to do but luckily I just finished as they guys started to arrive for a rehearsal.

We were still rehearsing and making decision about the running order of the show right up until about 20 minutes before we went live. I guess that is part of the fun of live tv!

As we went live I was very nervous and was overjoyed that we could see we have 3 viewers! Knowing that someone was watching kind of made the whole thing worthwhile.

The show ran really smoothly and seemed to be over in a flash. The whole team did so well with everyone playing their part. What a feeling it was when we closed the show and went off air...one I will never forget.

We also learnt a lot about the show and have a meeting on Monday to discuss plans for show 2. One little thing I wish I had done was to add instructions to the live page letting people know they may need to refresh the page. Streaming a long show like that can cause the connection to get stuck (I am sure there is a technical term for it) I will make sure a note gets added to the page.

I am delighted to announce that we had around 170 viewers for the show which is amazing, so thank you very much if you took the time to have a look. This gives us a great foundation to build on and make show 2 even better.

This all starts tomorrow night when I am out filming at Leighton Buzzard Golf Club. A local lady called Nicole Witts is hosting a very special Spring Fashion/ Make-up Show in aid of Brain Tumour Action. There are lots of great things happening including a performance from X Factor contestants Voices with Soul. Look out for a full report on the website and the next show!

I mentioned in my blog yesterday that I had loads of people to thanks. Well I forgot one massive ‘Thank You’. It is to The Ashwell Arms in Leighton Buzzard. They have very kindly allowed us to use their back room for our meetings. Without them this project would have been very difficult so a massive thank you to them and if you happen to be passing – please pop in and buy stuff...!

Ian

Tonight's the night...

2010-03-03T01:59:00.001-08:00

It has been months of preparation. There has been blood sweat and tears but we are finally launching Leighton Buzzard tv to to world tonight!

It is all happening from 8pm on Leightonbuzz.com – Tune in and you will be able to watch the show live featuring Elite Training in LB, Mick Flynn’s series – ‘In Search of Excellence’ with 2 episodes!! A fantastic local signer called Rosie Riley, meet LB’s Bike Club, local speaker and businessman Dale Rockell, fascinating interview with one of Leighton Buzzard Drama groups longest standing members and more!

The technical side of the show has proven to be hard than we imagined, especially as we have done this show on a very very very small budget i.e nothing. We have been very lucky and people have loaned us equipment or the LBtv group have used their own stuff.

There are so many people to thank in advance of the show. I need to thank the group for all their hard work and giving up their time to make this happen. I also need to thank Central Bedfordshire Libraries, The Culture Cafe, LB Drama Group, Ashtons Garage, Geoff Hutchins, Rosie Riley, Elite Training, Dale Rockell, Dillamore's Furnishers, DJ Services, Freecycle, Bike Club – Tejesh Mistry and many more so if I have forgot to mention you, I am sorry but thanks!

I hope you enjoy the show. Please let us know what you thought of it!

Ian

Send us your videos

2009-11-30T14:33:00.001-08:00

Do you have a video for our site? Do you want to make a video for this site?
Maybe you have seen a show in Leighton Buzzard and want to send us a review?
Or review a restaurant? Or send us an infomercial for your company?

Send it to ian@leightonbuzz.com and we will add it to the site!

And more people to thank...

2009-11-30T10:23:00.001-08:00

I also must thank a few other people. Evolution 24 and Ringway Jacobs will be lending us some technical equipment for the show. Dillamore furnishers are lending us some furniture for the set and thanks also to Go Cycle, Leighton-Linslade Town Council, LB News, Leighton Buzzard
Observer and the people of LB Freecycle – Without all of you this project would not be possible!

A new year, a new TV show!

2009-11-30T04:43:00.000-08:00

The LBtv group have decided to delay the broadcast of our first show until the new year. It was a hard decision but the right one.

We have been very lucky and have great support from local companies and organisations in LB. Bedfordshire Libraries have been really kind and said we can use the Culture Cafe to broadcast the live show. The Culture Cafe has been used as a base for a few meetings and very hospitable. We have also used The Aswell Arms in Leighton Buzzard for a meeting and have another there tonight. A couple of weeks ago we held our first rehearsal for the show, it gave us a chance to look at the layout and make best use of the space. We are also very grateful to David Sambrook at DJ Services for the use of his workshop that allowed us to rehearse. Without the support of these and other local companies it would be very hard for a project like this to get off the ground. So thank you all.

As for the show...we were due to go live this week but one of the major stumbling blocks has been the insurance. When we originally came up with this idea we never imaged we would need constitutions, editorial policies, insurance etc but needs must so we have to work through it. A major stumbling block we have is funding. We have kept costs to a minimum for the pilot show but the cost of insurance has hit us hard. Between now and the show (probably late January) we need to raise some funds and get the insurance paid for. The LBtv group are meeting tonight to discuss possible ideas.

As soon as a date is confirmed we will announce it on the website

I will keep the blog updated more often but should you have any questions please feel free to email me ian@leightonbuzz.com

It’s all about the date

2009-10-06T11:11:00.001-07:00

The LBtv group are meeting once again this Friday at the Library Cafe, Lake Street. I am currently writing the agenda for the meeting and I have just added the most important thing topic and it reads “Pilot – When?”

We have had 4 meetings now and we have got a great team and great ideas but there is only so much talking we can do, I think it’s important that we have a date so we can base meetings, filming, and production around it and we all know what the deadlines are. I will see what the others think but I would hope we could go for a show some time in November. Any later and all the work we have done so far might need to be done again as currently there is not much talk or even mention of Christmas! A December show would need to reflect what is happening out there as we all know how Christmas likes to take over.

There are still lots of stuff happening behind the scenes but maybe not as fast as we would like, it can be difficult to try and fit this in with everything else like work and other commitments. The ‘Search for Excellence’ goes on and one of our very talented film makers has been to a local Martial Arts group and has been filming them for an item on the show.

I had a meeting on Monday evening with Rachel from Leighton Buzzard Theatre about the possibility of using some of the space for future recordings. It was the first time I have been to the level of the building and was very impressed with their Theatre. They have a great set up and I look forward to visiting very soon and watching a show!

I hope my next update will be confirming the date for the pilot....watch this space.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog

Meeting 3 was successful too

2009-09-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

The LBtv group met for the third time on Friday night and once again it was a very successful meeting. Once again we met at the Library Cafe in Lake Street.

Unlike the last 2 meeting we had an agenda and I was taking ‘minutes’, I can confirm I am pretty rubbish at it! We tried to stick to the agenda but there is always so much to talk about!

We have been working on a constitution for a couple of weeks and this was agreed by the group and Mark and I were made joint Chairmen. I have mentioned this before but having a constitution in place means we can move forward. We have been enquiring about Public Liability Insurance but couldn’t even get a quote until they saw our constitution.

Work on the pilot is going really really well. We have a full schedule now and know what the show content will be. We still have to do some pre-recording but things are taking shape nicely. I also think we have our presenting team. We have a great team working of the whole LBtv project and its proving a pleasure to work with them.

During the pilot we will be looking for interaction from the viewers; this will be via Twitter, FaceBook, Windows Live Messenger, email, sms text message. There are still a few things to iron out but it will be a great way to hear YOUR thoughts during the show.

One of the great things about this project is that we really are leading the way. No other Town, City or Village I know of is doing a live show. Who would have thought that the forgotten corner of Bedfordshire is leading the way! I can’t wait for the day when we get contacted and asked how we do it by another like–minded bunch of residents from another Town, City of Village.

Promoting LBtv

2009-09-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

Today I was delighted to meet the member of Leighton Buzzard’s Youngevity group and give a talk on LBtv and our plans for the future. It seemed very well received and they liked the idea so lets hope they like it!

I had another idea today… the Youngevity group have different invited guests each week to do a talk and in the near future they will be having a man from a local garden centre talking about winter plants and preparing you garden for the winter. What a great feature that would make on the show! I will have to ask Mick the guys name and invite him on.

I am pleased to say that Go Cycle, the cycling team from Leighton-Linslade Town Council will be on the pilot show. They have agreed to come on and talk about all the fantastic work they do and show us some of the excellent cycling facilities we have in the Town. I am very much looking forward to this as it will be a great way to promote another form of transport in our Town. We have some really good routes and facilities for cycling so we really should make the most of them!

What’s on in Leighton Buzzard?

2009-09-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

We have a section on the website dedicated to what’s on in LB. Having spent time on searching a number of different websites looking for something to do in Leighton Buzzard I decided that we need a hub for all the information. There are a few sites with bits of information but no site has everything.

I have been adding stuff to the page for a while now and it is amazing just how much stuff is actually going on!

Take a look for yourself and if you have something to add then let me know ian@leightonbuzz.com

Meeting 3 has arrived already

2009-09-17T03:08:00.000-07:00

We have our 3rd meeting this Friday at the Library café. We have quite a lot to discuss and 1 hour never seems long enough. The agenda is being finalised today and will be sent to the team later. On of the 1st things on the agenda is the constitution that mark has written. I will know more tomorrow but I think the general feeling is that LBtv needs to be set up as a committee. This will give us a better footing to make this project a success and something for the people of Leighton Buzzard to be proud of.

I will be giving a talk on LBtv to the Youngevity group in LB tomorrow. The group is for people aged 59+. I am really looking forward to it and delighted to be invited along.

Things are coming along nicely on our opening video for the pilot show. LBtv’s Brian Wilson is the Project Manager for this and its sounds really good. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone so you will just have to watch it and see for yourself!

Now we have this new blog I will be interest to hear any feedback from you – The readers! So feel free J

Ian

Ps, all the original blogs up to the 10th September are available here

A new day, a new blog

2009-09-10T05:58:00.000-07:00

I have decide to allow Blogger.com to manage my blogs. I think this will be easier to update and I think it looks better.

We have our 3rd meeting confirmed for Friday 18th September at the Cultrual Cafe, LB. I cannot beleive we are at meeting 3 already!? Where has the time gone?

I must admit that I did kind of hope that we would be in a postition to be able to announce a date for the pilot show but there is so much work involved....I am sure it will be worth the wait!

Ian