BY ECO2
Andrew Sutton and Rachel Collingwood have been working on a variety of NFP projects together for 25 years.
Originally from Design and Fashion backgrounds, their natural instinct was to give back.
The first project was recording the stories of the survivors of the Rwandan Genocide, progressing into whale and dolphin protection in Sri Lanka and beyond. Finally setting up The Girls Home in Nicaragua for social orphans.
Andrew films, shoots and edits whilst Rachel facilitates and fundraises.
They are always glad to add that unique touch to your campaign/fundraising film, or simply a short effective social media piece to deliver the strong message your company needs.
We established the charity, The Girls Home in 2004.
A home for social orphans unable to live with their families due to distinctive circumstances.
We run the website and produce all fundraising material.
The Girls Home work with Justin Long as well as Lauren Mayberry and Amanda Seyfried to produce fundraising videos.
We are an official registered charity - Charity number 1188468
Our mission.
To promote for the public benefit the conservation, preservation and protection of cetaceans by:
Providing responsible whale tourism guidelines and raising awareness of relevant regulations and codes of conduct through workshops with local communities.
Promoting establishment of MPA lines (Marine Protected Areas) in cetacean breeding grounds that will relieve heavy tourism and boat traffic.
Educating the public regarding humane behaviour towards cetaceans by providing appropriate safety guidelines for whale watching that do not cause stress to the whales.
Starting in Sri Lanka and further afield, project by project.
In 1999 we offered our help and support to the fledgling Survivors Fund, run single-handedly in the UK by Mary Kayatesi Blewitt O.B.E..
We have since engaged in all aspects of documentary making from office support to testimony, and sessions in UK schools. For more information:
www.survivors-fund.org.uk
In 2003, Andrew visited Sri Lanka as the director/cameraman for an Emirates & Sri Lankan Airways shoot, whereby he became fascinated by the abundant cetacean population around the island.
He subsequently returned with the BBC, with the author Philip Hoare and again promoting the new Project BLUEprint team in collaboration with WDC (Whale and Dolphin Conservation, UK) and major stakeholders in Sri Lanka: SriLankan Airlines, Sri Lankan Tourist Board, Jetwing Hotels and Hohn Keels Hotels. The aim is to promote responsible whale watching amongst the various hot-spots around Sri Lanka and continue the BLUEprint workshops for boat crews and those associated with whale watching, demonstrating safe whale watching guidelines, ID and essential animal and boat behaviour education work, ultimately moving towards an officially recognised MPA (Marine Park Area) in the Gulf of Mannar.
Grindhvalur is the Faroese name for the Pilot Whale. Every year they kill hundreds of pilot whales as a tradition, around 1000 each year are slaughtered whilst the sea turns red.
Andrew, in partnership with Campaign Whale, filmed key Faroese who are for and against this annual act, ending up with an interesting dichotomy of views, ultimately summed up by the one and only Sir David Attenborough.
You can view the film and website here:
Rissos Dolphin in Mirissa, Sri Lanka. Andrew Sutton
It was an impossible task to disentangle the dolphin from the plastic and fishing line due to its speed, but ultimately this animal probably drowned or starved as it lost use of its fluke. The fishing wire was the main cause of the injury, yet the entangled bags slowly decreased the animals ability to hunt and stay with its group.
It was important to capture the incident to highlight the plague of how plastic and other human waste, is destroying marine life and habitats.
