The Making of 'Blades in the Sky' - Cornwall Air Ambulance

Cornwall Air Ambulance’s animation Help Holly is helping to shine a light in homes across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly this Christmas. A large team of people have been beavering away to get the campaign ready to share with you this festive period, and in fact, the music 'Blades in the Sky' has been three years in the making.

Watch ‘The Making of Blades in the Sky’ video below:

Written by renowned composer Ben Bartlett, 'Blades in the Sky' was originally meant for the arrival of your new AW169 helicopter back in 2020, following the New Heli Appeal. Ben met with Dr Ed Abrahamson, his son's GP, who has been involved with Cornwall Air Ambulance for a number of years. They decided a piece of music could help to promote the work of the charity, as an anthem. Ben visited the charity’s airbase near Newquay and saw the helicopter, which was a big part of his inspiration for the music. He wanted the song to be able to tell the stories of different people who have been rescued. Philanthropy and Fundraising Manager Karen Hurn took on the task of producing the project and sourced local choirs and vocalists. The song was in the process of being recorded both in Cornwall and in London when the pandemic struck. Things were brought to a halt and the track was never finished, until now.

Ben Bartlett – Composer

An award-winning TV and film composer. Over his 20-year career, Ben has written music for shows such as Vera, The Tunnel & Fiona’s Story. His score for the BBC blockbuster series Walking with Dinosaurs won a BAFTA & received a Primetime Emmy Nomination.

Ben says a big part of the inspiration for Blades in the Sky was the staff of Cornwall Air Ambulance themselves. When visiting the airbase, he heard all about their personal stories & connections to the work of the crew and helicopter, he says the mood that day really inspired the music. From conception, to composing, recording & putting together the final piece, it has taken over three years to create Blades in the Sky.

“To hear it all come together now is really exciting, particularly all the individual voices, it’s a really amazing sound and is heart-wrenching. Anything could happen to any of us, that brings us together, and music is very similar in that way.”

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Karen Hurn – Soprano

Karen is passionate about singing and is also privileged to work for Cornwall Air Ambulance as the charity’s Philanthropy & Fundraising Manager. She joined the charity three years ago and one of her first tasks was to work with BAFTA Award winning composer, Ben Bartlett, to produce the ‘Blades in the Sky’ anthem. She got over 200 singers together, but little did we know that the Covid pandemic would delay the release of this amazing track by such a long time.

Karen says the listener can almost feel the movement of the rotor blades throughout the piece of music and get a sense of the crew arriving to save lives. She says she is so grateful to all the local musicians involved.

Harriet Eastwood – Soloist

Harriet Eastwood, now 23, is among the soloists on the track. Harriet was airlifted by Cornwall Air Ambulance as a child when she was just nine years old.

She had been playing in the sea with her sister, near St Austell, when she was swept out. Harriet was unconscious but passers-by managed to get her to safety back on the beach.

The Cornwall Air Ambulance was called and she was airlifted to Treliske where she received treatment. Harriet has been involved in various events for the charity and says she wouldn’t be here today without the crew and the helicopter.

“If the helicopter and paramedics hadn’t arrived when they did, I wouldn’t be alive today. So many people know someone who has been helped by Cornwall Air Ambulance.”

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Elsie Graham – Young Soloist

No doubt you will have noticed the young vocals and that incredible end high note in the soundtrack, well those belong to now 14-year-old Elsie Graham from Redruth.

Elsie has been singing since she was little and was only 11 years old when she recorded for the song at Falmouth University, which was her first time in a recording studio.

She is now involved with the youth part of Redruth Amateur Operatic Society Trust and recently performed in Peter Pan.

Danielle Meunier – Soloist

Danielle Meunier, who was Head of Theatre and Dance at Falmouth University at the time, where a lot of the recording took place, sang parts of the song in the Cornish language.

She trained as a classical singer at home in Canada and studied in voice and speech work.

Danielle also speaks several different languages and is an accent coach, which helped when it came to performing the song in Cornish!

IVANA - Soloist

The lead solo vocals in the track belong to IVANA, Ben Bartlett’s daughter, who is a singer-songwriter.

IVANA has been singing most of her life and started writing music when she was just 14 years old. She says her musical influence and love for music all comes from her dad.

She was 17 at the time of recording in London, and it was one of her first experiences in a professional recording studio. Now age 20, IVANA also plays a range of instruments, and is focussing on Jazz and Soul in her music.

“It’s got quite a grand sound, and I feel like that is what Cornwall Air Ambulance needs for showing what they’re about. The whole project is very touching.”

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Soloists

Other vocalists throughout the track include:

Amy Buzza-Blackwell, who worked on Cornwall Air Ambulance’s New Heli Appeal to raise money for your AW169 helicopter. She says it’s great to finally be able to hear the wonderful recording and think about the difference the helicopter has made to the lives of so many.

Ben Hoadley, who is a local Cornish singer and sang the tenor solo for Blades in the Sky. He is also a member of The Celtic Male Ensemble who feature on the track and regularly perform across Cornwall.

Choirs

Four Cornish choirs, with over 200 singers between them, sang vocals for Blades in the Sky. The Tresillian Singers & Nankersey Male Choir, led by Elaine Tangye, and the Cornwall Symphony Chorus & The Celtic Male Ensemble, led by Alastair Taylor. They spent months rehearsing & learning harmonies, ready to record at Falmouth University.

Due to the pandemic, they never got to record in the studio, which was supposed to take place just as the first lockdown began. Instead, they can be heard on the track performing during a rehearsal, which luckily was recorded at the time! We are so grateful to this wonderful group of local singers who are so passionate about the charity & gave freely of their time.

Spider Eye – Animation

The animation itself has been created by local studio Spider Eye, based in St Just in Penwith. The award winning and BAFTA nominated company was founded in 1998 and produce 2D traditional, digital and CGI animation for film and TV.

Previously they have developed and delivered original series and films for the BBC, CiTV, Milkshake, Disney, Turner, Netflix and Universal among many others. They have worked on the likes of Jungle Junction, Spot Bots, Moshi Monsters the Movie, Thomas the Tank Engine shorts and The Happos Family.

Creative Director Morgan Francis is also a coastguard station officer, and has worked with the Cornwall Air Ambulance crew during coastal rescues. In total, the Help Holly animation has taken Morgan and the team around 1,200 hours to make!

Special Thanks To The Spider Eye Team For Making This Possible.

“We wanted to try and represent the whole of the county, with different landmarks from Mounts Bay to Carn Brea and to the Eden Project.”

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Cornwall Air Ambulance

And of course, all this couldn’t come together without the hard work of the Cornwall Air Ambulance team themselves. The Marketing and Communications team came up with the animation idea and brought Spider Eye onboard to help turn it into reality.

They have brought the whole campaign together, with the help of the fundraising team, from the story, to the social media content, to the visuals in our charity shops and the final campaign.

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Cornwall Air Ambulance needs to raise £200,000 to keep the helicopter flying to missions this Christmas time. Can you help save lives this Christmas?

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Ben Bartlett – Composer

“To hear it all come together now is really exciting, particularly all the individual voices, it’s a really amazing sound and is heart-wrenching. Anything could happen to any of us, that brings us together, and music is very similar in that way.”

Karen Hurn – Soprano

Harriet Eastwood – Soloist

“If the helicopter and paramedics hadn’t arrived when they did, I wouldn’t be alive today. So many people know someone who has been helped by Cornwall Air Ambulance.”

Elsie Graham – Young Soloist

Danielle Meunier – Soloist

IVANA - Soloist

“It’s got quite a grand sound, and I feel like that is what Cornwall Air Ambulance needs for showing what they’re about. The whole project is very touching.”

Soloists

Choirs

Spider Eye – Animation

“We wanted to try and represent the whole of the county, with different landmarks from Mounts Bay to Carn Brea and to the Eden Project.”

Cornwall Air Ambulance

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