Louise Hannah, a Broadcast Journalist on BBC Breakfast, used her story-telling skills to help children create an animated film aimed at encouraging walking to school.
"I wanted to volunteer for the BBC as I was aware of its huge potential to help other people and groups. It’s such a big, globally recognised organisation with real clout and resources – both in of facilities and staff – and I wanted to play a role in helping other people access this.
As a first step, I arranged a meeting with Tina Ntow – a member of the BBC Outreach team – to discuss my skills and how they could be best put to use. I was asked soon afterwards to take part in a project that was being run by a production company called Calico Creative on behalf of Lancashire County Council.
The company had asked for somebody with strong story telling skills to help put together an animation encouraging families in Burnley to walk to school rather than drive. I decided to commit without knowing much more about the project, and it resulted in an incredibly rewarding, enjoyable and worthwhile experience.
All in all I spent three mornings working on the project: the first was at Burnley library with around 25 children from different schools, which started with a little talk about what a journalist does and how we were going to use those skills to tell our story.
I was pleased to do this as I’m ionate about telling children about journalism and encouraging them to see what a fantastic career it can be. We then drew and cut out different characters for the animation, and the kids were filmed – in a mocked up studio – being interviewed by me about their characters. This was a terrific opportunity to see the weird and wonderful imaginations of kids up close!
Their characters had to come up with an excuse for driving to school rather than walking. They varied from weather problems – such as giant hailstones the size of boulders – to ego problems – such as a dad wanting to show off his brand new Ferrari! It was incredibly entertaining and funny, and helped me to gain a real insight into how to make stories accessible to children.
The second morning was spent recording the audio for the animation in a studio. The production company had already prepared a script, and a group of around ten school children were given different roles to play. I was able to coach the children in how to voice the script and encourage them to get into character. It was superb to see them doing their best, and also the pride they felt afterwards on achieving their goals and being praised for their hard work.
The final step was the ‘launch’ of the video at a Primary School in Burnley. It was great to meet Emma, a fellow BBC volunteer, who had worked on a brainstorming session with the kids, and hear about her experience.
It was also lovely to see the end product – and more importantly how excited and enthused the kids’ were to see their work. I’d succeeded in my goal of introducing younger people to journalism, and getting them excited about it. Parents and grandparents also came along to watch, and it was really rewarding to hear their positive . Overall, I gave just a short amount of time in return for an incredibly fulfilling experience on both a personal and professional level."
*BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the BBC closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community and staff volunteering.
