Public Services student wins 'People of Peace' award

HUGH Baird College Public Services student, Alex Smith, recently won the Strawberry Field's young persons 'People of Peace' award for his dedication to the local community during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Strawberry Field has been part of The Salvation Army since the 1930's as a place that supports vulnerable young people in order to give them the chance to succeed, and honour the site that inspired John Lennon. To mark what would have been the 80th birthday of John Lennon, the team at Strawberry Field wanted to find a unique way of celebrating the legacy of John Lennon, and encouraging the peace which John so often spoke about. During this time of Pandemic, it is now important more than ever, to celebrate individuals.

Alex, alongside his studies at the College, has spent the past months using his talent and passion for playing the bagpipes to keep spirits up in his local community. He has been out playing the bagpipes through lockdown for the elderly and vulnerable, visiting them at their homes and even to Care Homes to play at a safe distance; all of this without charge. On the occasion that someone did give him money, he used it to shop for the local food bank, which was being run from his local pub to support people in the community.

Carl Giles, Hugh Baird College Curriculum Manager, said:- "This is a fantastic accolade and everyone at the College is extremely proud of Alex's achievement and contribution to the local community. He is model student and despite his commitments away from his studies he still manages to excel in all aspects of his Public Services course. Alex is a conscientious individual, and will always put himself forward 1st to support and help others in need. I am confident that Alex will continue to serve his community in the future and make a difference."

For more information on Public Services courses at Hugh Baird College, please visit:- HughBaird.AC.UK or alternatively, call:- 0151353444.

Video expert inspired by Dad's tragic death to launch tributes for people's loved ones

A videographer from Southport has been inspired by his Dad's tragic recent death to record top quality send offs for people's loved ones. Mark, who owns Southport TV, lost his father last year. He and his family had to organise such a popular and well known figure's funeral under tight Covid restrictions, which currently limit guests to just 30 people with strict social distancing rules in place. It was a funeral that hundreds of family and friends would normally have attended; and Mark is not alone in sadly having to organise a scaled down funeral during this Pandemic. Guided by his own experience, Mark has now launched North West Funeral Filming, so he can help other families to enjoy the recognition that their loved ones truly deserve. He said:- "The idea came about after my Dad passed away last year. As only 30 people are allowed in funerals under current Government restrictions, we were offered to live stream the funeral service, which we did. When I spoke to friends and relatives the next day a lot of people I gave the link to couldn't view properly for various reasons. Some experienced poor connection with the feed constantly dropping out, some were too old to figure out the logging in process, some of them were out at the time, etc, etc. After requesting to see the footage I was very disappointed with the 1 dimensional angle from inside the church."

Mark has many years experience shooting video footage through Southport TV. He usually covers the Hospitality and events sector, providing a unique service for customers. Mark said:- "I thought I should have got my guys to film my Dad's funeral and edited it down myself into a celebration of his life, which is what I eventually did; North West Funeral Filming was born. What we do is to ask the family to send lots of old photos and videos of their loved one and we ask for a list of 10 to 15 of their favourite songs. We then professionally film their funeral and piece it all together into a beautiful montage celebrating their life; 'capturing the goodbyes forever.' The video can be kept as a keepsake and passed down for generations and watched back on important anniversaries, the link can also be sent to family and friends around the world who couldn't make it due to current Covid restrictions; much better than just sending a basic live stream link of the service!"

Mark and his team have already filmed many funerals and the results have provided huge comfort to family members and friends of those who have lost their lives during lockdown. He said:- "The funeral filming is always very discreet as we appreciate it is a very delicate day for the family. Some of the people who we have worked with recently have no problem being filmed whilst others prefer us to be more in the background. We have three different tiers of packages starting with our Bronze package which is basic funeral filming, all the way to our Gold package which is where the funeral venue (church / crematorium / burial) and also the procession (if applicable) which can be filmed by a drone. Or, 1 of my guys can walk alongside the procession with a gimbal if everyone is following a horse and cart, for example, capturing people standing at the side of the road paying their respects. All the services we film are recorded with professional audio recording equipment so the Vicar and any speakers on the day can be clearly heard on the video. Our camera crew follow the current Covid guidelines at every venue and exercise social distancing at every step of the filming. We have a special offer on until the end of March 2021 where we will include drone footage of the venue for free, which really adds a great dimension to the end video. If anyone is interested in speaking to us about this you can get in touch via:- Info@NorthWestFuneralFilming.Co.UK or we have a:- 'live chat' and enquiry page on our website."