Filming at Frimley Park Hospital Children's Ward

The children's ward of the large NHS hospital at Frimley Park has a significant throughput of child patients. Entering hospital can be a very traumatic experience for a child and their parents and the hospital does all it can to put patients at ease. An aid to this is a booklet they hand to parents before a child arrives. This outlines the general arrangements and what to expect. Surrey Border Film & Video Makers were asked to make a short video to supplement the booklet. A team, formed from volunteers from the club, spent two Sundays on an intensive filming exercise supported by the hospital staff. Filming covered everything from the children's ward to the journey to the anaesthetics room and then back from the recovery room and the discharge from hospital. The aim of the film was to provide a gentle introduction for both parents and patients.on ward facilities and the procedures before and after an operation.

Shooting for the movie we made for the Children's Ward at Frimley Park Hospital was completed over two very busy Sundays with a crew of seven club members. The director was a younger member, Jenny Mitchell, who drew on her new Masters Degree in movie production. David Jackson was Producer and lighting cameraman, with the other camera was operated by Gordon Sutton. Marjorie Dickens was sound boom operator, while her husband Peter was shot logger and assistant Gofer for Neil Cryer. John Widdecombe operated the club's two 500w halogen lights.

The 7-year-old star patient was Paige Coomber, daughter of a theatre nurse, who took to acting like a duck to water, especially after she had seen the first rushes on the camera LCD screen. We were very lucky to have such a natural young lady in front of the camera - belying the old adage about working with children. But she was quite pleased that the final scenes after a longish day required her to lie in bed! Her mother was played by Lesley Alden, a play group leader and project liaison for the hospital for this movie. Supporting cast included Paige's mother, in her real-life role, plus a very cooperative group of other doctors, nurses, ward staff, patients and parents. We even had a very pleasant and affordable lunch in the hospital. The crew of seven was about the minimum required to manage the two-camera shoot. Everyone was very busy for the whole time and their contribution was essential. Especially important was to get release forms signed for everyone else who appeared in our shots as well as for the main players.