Short Film Commission

St John Ambulance has been awarded a £240,026 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver a project exploring 150 years of community first aid, as the charity prepares to celebrate its foundation in 1877. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to explore, share and celebrate our heritage with our volunteers and the communities we serve.

This project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery Players.

We are looking to commission a production company to produce, script and edit an impactful short film (3-5 minutes) that brings our story and our heritage to life, celebrates the impact that our volunteers and young people make, and inspires audiences to get involved with our lifesaving work today.

The film will be launched across all our digital channels on the 1st January 2027 to mark the start of the anniversary year and build excitement for the programmes and activities we have planned.

It will bring our first aid heritage – especially our collection of rarely seen historic photographs – to a wide and diverse audience in ways that are relevant and meaningful to communities today.

Beyond the launch itself, it will be an ongoing resource that provides an accessible and engaging entry point to the past, present and future of first aid in communities.

We anticipate that the final product will be a combination of archive resources, new film content/talking heads and voiceover. We will be looking to share shorter clips across our social media channels to widen its reach.

We are looking to work with a production company that is open to sharing their skills and expertise with our Young People and involve a small group in the process of making the film, e.g. through being interviewed, meeting the team and shadowing part of the filming or editing process. Participants will be recruited and supervised by our Heritage Team.