The Ormskirk Has Got The Edge support video - Three years on from the Mary Portas Pilot town bid.

The Ormskirk Has Got The Edge video, first produced in 2012, has been updated with subtitles for the hearing impaired and for speakers of English as a foreign language.

I originally filmed this video back in March 2012.  It was a week before the deadline to submit the bid proposal to the Portas Pilot scheme and the video was originally filmed to form part of the bid proposal.  More on that later!  The video was shot very quickly and came together thanks to the support and help of it's many contributors.

Three years on and I am in the process of adding subtitles to all the travel videos, holiday video diaries, community stories and interviews on my Life In Another Town YouTube channel.  While typing the transcription of the dialogue in the video and repeatedly having to watch the video again and again, it caused me to think back to that time and contemplate where we are now, three years later.  Now the shouting and fanfare has died down, what has been achieved?

Interview with aspiring TV Film writer & Lancashire lad Daniel Driver behind the scenes at Dickinson's Real Deal on filming location at Edge Hill University Feb 11th 2012

Interview with TV Production Runner Daniel Driver behind the scenes at Dickinson's Real Deal.

The Real Deal came to Ormskirk on filming location at Edge Hill University on Saturday February 11th 2012.

Former Edge Hill University student, Lancashire resident and aspiring film and television writer Daniel Driver, gives us the lowdown on his role as a "Runner" behind the scenes, during the filming of the RDF Televsion programme Dickinson's Real Deal.

If you have community news to share or a story to tell, then please contact Life In Another Town

Video interview with Ormskirk resident on the set of Dickinson's Real Deal at Edge Hill University Feb 2012

Video interview with Ormskirk resident on the set of Dickinson's Real Deal at Edge Hill University Feb 2012

Watch the video below of John Abraham being interviewed after his moment in the lime light on the set of Dickinson's Real Deal.

The Television programme "Dickinson's Real Deal" came to Ormskirk on Saturday Feb 11th 2012.  David Dickinson and the tv production filmed on location at the Wilson Centre on campus at Edge Hill University.

Many local fans of Dickinson's Real Deal came to the campus and queued for an opportunity to get a Real Deal.

Local fan and Ormskirk resident John Abraham was one of the lucky one's as he showed off a Napolean figurine to Jan in the hope of getting a real deal.

Did John get the deal he wanted? Who knows?, we'll have to wait and watch the programme on TV later on during the year.

Do you have some community news to share or a story to tell? Please get in contact with Life In Another Town

Dickinson's Real Deal - photos taken behind the scenes at the filiming on location at Edge Hill University

Dickinson's Real Deal - photos taken behind the scenes at the filiming on location at Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, West Lancashire Saturday 12th February 2012

Do you have a story to tell? Please get in contact with Life In Another Town

Squatters & squatting in Burscough West Lancashire Video interview with Ormskirk resident Mary Wright

Squatters and squatting in Burscough West Lancashire Video interview with Ormskirk resident Mary Wright

In a video interview, life time resident of West Lancashire, Mary Wright (no relation to local Life In Another Town blogger Matthew J Wright), gives a first hand account of living as a squatter on the Royal Navy Air Station HMS Ringtail, Burscough, West Lancashire following World War II.

Memorial Plaque, RNAS Burscough, H.M.S. Ringtail.  (photo by Graham Crisp)

Mary recalls how as a young child, her Mother and Father moved back down from Glasgow, where she had been born, to Burscough; the village where her Father had grown up.

The Nissen huts, which once served as accommodation for Naval personnel, would now serve, for the next several years, as badly needed housing for local families.

To see photos of the Burscough airfield visit the website Airfield Information Exchange

To illustrate how the squatting became a local issue, there appeared on the 26^th June 1947, in the Ormskirk Advertiser newspaper ,a short notice of a meeting by the Housing Committee of Ormskirk Urban District Council;

Rudolph Run Edge Hill University 2011

Rudolph Run Edge Hill University 2011, a set on Flickr.

Despite the chilly wind and cold wet drizzle, local runners, youngsters and adults came to the Rudolph Run and dashed around the track at Sporting Edge at Edge Hill University last Sunday 11th December 2011.

The runners, many in fancy dress and sporting reindeer antlers, braved the weather and proved themsleves hardy souls as they ran to raise money for the charities supported by Sue Murrin-Bailey, Mayoress of West Lancashire. Earlier, during the build up to the event Sue said: “This race is the perfect start to Christmas and is sure to be a hit with families and experienced runners. Not only is it going to be a festive and fun day out, but it’s also raising money for two fantastic local charities (West Lancs Womens’ Refuge and Community First Responders)

West Lancs Women's Refuge a registered charitable organisation, which provides a refuge for women and their children who have been victims of domestic violence.  We have been open since 1988, and have helped many hundreds of women and their children through the different services that the organisation has to offer. These include, Refuge accommodation, a 24hr Free-phone confidential Helpline, Floating Support Service, Information Centre, Counselling service and weekly coffee mornings/support groups.

Community First Responder volunteers are trained to attend emergency calls received by the ambulance service and provide care until the ambulance arrives.  Volunteers can arrive at an emergency scene in a matter of minutes, as they are sent to calls in their local area.  The schemes operate as a community partnership between St John Ambulance and local ambulance service trusts. Having someone in the community who has been trained in first aid and can reach the patient quickly makes all the difference.  SJA has been working hard across many counties to establish a close working partnership with NHS Ambulance Service Trusts in maintaining existing CFR units and establishing new units to fulfil this very worthwhile role.