Hyndburn-based tech company, Sundown Solutions, and Burnley-based advertising and marketing agency, Scott Dawson Advertising, recently presented to over 240 children, aged from 4 to 13 years, at Stonyhurst St Mary’s Hall in Clitheroe about the opportunities available to them in the marketing and cyber industries.

The career’s talk, which took place on Monday 16^th May at one of the UK’s leading co-educational Catholic boarding and day schools, included discussions on the origins of the internet and how to get into the cyber industry, as well as the important role that marketing will play.

Both Sundown Solutions and Scott Dawson Advertising were invited to the school after a member of staff at Stonyhurst, Louise Chambers, came across a Facebook video of Sundown Solutions and fellow Hyndburn business, What More UK, attending All Saints’ CE Primary located in Clayton le Moors, organised by Scott Dawson Advertising and #AmazingAccrington.

Set in a magnificent Grade I listed building with a 1,000 acre estate right in the heart of Lancashire’s Ribble Valley, Sundown CEO Heath Groves and Scott Dawson MD Murray Dawson, fielded some fantastic questions from the onlooking pupils including what qualifications they would require to work in cyber or marketing.

Mr Groves said: “It’s not just about the children getting the qualifications that they need, but it’s about businesses like us coming into these schools and telling the children who we are, what we do and that we are available.

“The response from these children has been amazing. They asked some extremely intellectual and insightful questions and the future of cyber and marketing looks very bright in Lancashire.”

Mr Dawson commented: “It has been a real honour to be invited into such a wonderful establishment to raise awareness of what we do and the opportunities which will be available to our young people when they leave school including roles in videography and social media.

“The engagement from the children was outstanding, with a good response to the interactive questions and challenges from all age groups.”

Michael Gibson, Deputy Headmaster at Stonyhurst St Mary’s Hall, added: “We would like to say a massive thank you to Murray and to Heath for coming in and speaking to the school all about the world of marketing and tech.

“It was a really interesting assembly and we can’t thank Sundown Solutions and Scott Dawson Advertising enough for coming in.”

Sundown Solutions have been based in Hyndburn since 2003 and provide IT consultancy and management solutions around the world. You can learn more about them and what they do here: https://www.sundownsolutions.com/

Scott Dawson Advertising is a full service marketing and advertising agency based in Burnley, offering a wide range of services including social media, PR, creative design, artwork, direct mail, exhibitions and conferences, copywriting, photography, videography and much more. Head to their website to learn more: https://www.scottdawson.co.uk/

SELRAP, the action group campaigning to reinstate just 12 miles of rail track between Colne and Skipton, are building up to a major last push to get the project over the line. A new rail corridor will be transformational – forming the North’s fourth trans-Pennine link, supporting the levelling-up of the East Lancashire and wider Northern economy.

SELRAP have appointed Burnley’s Scott Dawson Advertising to create a campaign video, showing support for the campaign from leading figures across the North. This will help in gaining more public support, and show how much the relatively small project will bring in benefits to the North.

The reinstatement of the track will connect the Airedale line, a modern and fast train service running from Leeds, into East Lancashire. Two trains will be scheduled per hour, with a new station built at Earby and a replacement station built in Colne. This will bring the Colne-Leeds journey time down to just 50 minutes, with significant benefits for students, commuting, leisure and tourism opportunities in East Lancs and the Yorkshire Dales.

Freight is another significant benefit the project will bring to the region. Additional freight trains on this route will make this a strategic freight rail corridor from coast to coast, connecting Hull with Liverpool and routes inbetween. This will significantly reduce congestion pressure on the M62, and will have a great benefit on the environment. This project will also open up other future projects, such as the building of a strategically placed freight terminal at Huncoat.

Amber Corns, PR Director at Scott Dawson Advertising said: “This is a great project and I’m looking forward to the final version. We’ve seen in Burnley how the reopening of the Todmorden Curve has brought benefits to the town being directly connected to Manchester, so I’m proud to be helping SELRAP get their project over the line.”

Peter Bryson, Chairman of SELRAP, said: “We’ve had so much support from leading figures already on our project, and 2021 is the year we will get this over the line and secure the funding. SDA had some great ideas on how to get the message across in a way that will capture people’s attention, and this will be the year we get the wheels in motion!”

More can be seen on the benefits and the progress so far on the project at the SELRAP website here: www.selrap.org.uk

Accrington Stanley FC held a moving Remembrance Day service to mark the opening of the new Memorial Garden at the Wham Stadium, a cause close to the club and supporter’s hearts. The memorial garden was a project funded by the Official Accrington Stanley Supporters Trust who raised over £30,000 to allow the build to go ahead.

To commemorate Remembrance Day, the club invited in members of the Accrington branch of the Royal British Legion. Unfortunately due to Covid-19 regulations, members of the public were not allowed to attend, so Scott Dawson Advertising were commissioned to capture the moving event on video for the club.

The club also welcomed Piper Paul Burns, who is Deputy Head at St Andrew’s Primary School in Oswaldtwistle, standard bearers and a bugler to play the Last Post to the Memorial Garden for the tribute on Sunday. Accrington Pipe Band is the oldest civilian pipe band in the United Kingdom and reputedly the world, formed in 1885. A wreath was laid by Gary De Maine on behalf of the Official Accrington Stanley Supporters’ Trust.

Following the release of the outstanding video, there was national interest in the footage from the event, which led to it being included in the Sky Sports news coverage alongside footage of the national teams paying their respects, and also Granada News.

You can watch the video here: 

If you’d like SDA to make a video for you that has global potential get in touch here