Firestyle Magazine: Issue 6 - Winter 2016

CLAPPERBOARD
Award winning Liverpool actors Christine Tremarco, Alison Steadman and John
Henshaw​. Alison said​, “It’s an honour for me to be returning to Liverpool. Not
only to this great city but to support the Clapperboard Youth Project which
aims to bring both new and existing talent together in these monthly events
that will raise much needed funds”.
Award winning Liverpool
actor Stephen Graham said ​ ​
”I’m made up to be back
in my home city and able
to support Clapperboard.
It’s fantastic what they are
doing to help young people.
Hopefully some of them will
choose the same career
path as me and follow in my
footsteps.”
Award winning Liverpool playwrite
Willy Russell said “I’m delighted to
be associated with Clapperboard
and glad to be able to make some
small contribution to a project that
concerns itself with engaging the
spirit and creativity of the young.
If I was remotely still young myself,
I know I would be knocking on
Clapperboard’s doors and trying to
be involved”.
As previously mentioned, I have been
very fortunate to have been helped
along the way by some amazing
individuals including above professionals
from the world of film and television
who have given their valuable time to
support Clapperboard (including my
present Board members: Perri Allain
Hughes, Jonathan Ford, Iain Hoskins,
Cllr Patrick Hurley, Michelle Langan,
Steve McDermott, Felix Schroer, Lynn
Saunders) and organisation such as
Merseyside Police, Liverpool Echo,
Bermans Solicitors, Liverpool Film Office,
Ma Boyles, Frederiks, Liverpool Hope
University, Pinewood Studios, British
Board of Film Classification, Pinewood
Studios, BBC, Red Productions, Lime
Pictures, Liverpool Film Studios, Hope
Street Hotel, Bill Elms Associates,
amongst others, all who have helped
with Clapperboard UK’s legacy.
However, sadly, with the present
government’s austerity implementations,
like most charities we have had our
funding drastically reduced. Most of our
income, unlike much larger charities,
goes directly into our projects – not into
anyone’s salary, or into PR, marketing
etc., as everything is done ‘in-house’
delivered by a very small team. In the
past our work with young people
covered the whole of the North
West and further, but because of
lack of funding, the past 2 years
we have focussed on Merseyside
as we are fortunate to receive
funding from Mersey Care-NHS,
Sefton Carers, PH Holt and Arts
Council-Lottery.
To conclude, our successful
work with young people and
adults who may have issues can
sometimes be challenging, but at
the end of the day those people
are being empowered to have a
voice and have their say in telling
their stories whilst learning how to
create and produce a short film.
They can be involved in every role
from script to screen, including
pre and post-production and
they are also able to be involved
with the actual high profile
awards ceremony (brochure
design, event management,
marketing, PR etc.). There are
lots of opportunities here that
allow young people to gain
work experience and at the
actual Awards evening itself,
they are presented with a
special Clapperboard award for
their achievements by the many
celebrities that give up their time
to support us. When I see the
young people’s reaction and the
fantastic praise and feedback from
their families who attend, it’s very
emotional. That’s when I realise why
I do this job, as it’s the positive end
result that makes it all worthwhile,
seeing them achieve so much with
the assistance of Clapperboard’s
team and our many kind supporters,
funders and sponsors.
Finally, we have extended our work
by offering technical expertise
to companies who would like to
promote and market themselves
through the medium of film. We
offer a charitable rate and have
recently produced short promos for
Tobacco Free Futures supporting
their anti-smoking campaign with the
Liverpool writer-actor Neil Fitzmaurice
and Hollyoaks actress Jazmine Franks
who both starred in the film, aimed
to highlight the risks of smoking in cars
with child passengers. Now, doing so
is against the law. We also produced
a short film for Liverpool Housing Trust
to use for staff training.
Clapperboard’s annual awards ceremony will take place on Tuesday 4th April 2017. If you would like to
sponsor a Clapperboard Award or take out an add in our annual brochure that is distributed regionally,
nationally and internationally, or would like to find out more about Clapperboard, you can visit the website at:
www.clapperboarduk.com or call Maureen Sinclair on 07973783140.
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