Marketing communications volunteer Holly Willis on how she is using her filming expertise to support Saint Francis Hospice.


I reached out to Saint Francis Hospice at the start of 2020 as I wanted to volunteer by using my videography and editing skills in any way I could to help.

I’ve always been in awe of how amazing the hospice is and have always wanted to volunteer.

I lost my nan Margaret coming up to six years ago and on every birthday or anniversary, we love to come to the hospice and light a candle and write in the Book of Remembrance.

We also have her name on the Memory Tree - all of these provide such peace to my family and it really helps in remembering my nan.

It was a no-brainer for me to want to help in any way I could to give back to this wonderful place.

When I met with the marketing and communications team, we were hoping I’d be able to film footage of the London Marathon and other events but of course the pandemic hit and so this got put on hold.

It wasn’t until August 2020 that I was able to volunteer for the first time by shooting and editing the charity’s Remembrance service alongside photography company Smile More, who also kindly offered to volunteer their time.

I film and edit for a living, so it has been really nice to be able to do it to help people with their grief.

Since then, I have worked on more projects. In December, I filmed and edited the annual Light Up A Life service.

So far this year I’ve filmed the spring Remembrance Service and I’ll soon be working on the summer service.

A typical shoot takes around about three to four hours and editing would usually be up to 10 hours in total.

Last year, I was mainly doing freelance work so I had a lot of spare time due to the pandemic - so it was easy to be able to offer my time to the hospice.

Now I am still freelancing and am in full time work so I’m definitely a lot busier.

But for services moving forward, I can shoot them at the weekend and can also fit the editing in during that time too - so it’s all manageable and I’m very happy to do it.

I look forward to helping out more in the coming months.