Dreamflight is a wonderful charity where camera professionals can take a really active part.
Once a year, 192 deserving children from all over the UK, accompanied by a team of medical carers, board a chartered plane and head to Florida for 10 days of fun and excitement. Many children could not undertake such a trip without the support of the army of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and non-medical volunteers who care for the children 24 hours a day. Each year, camera crew members support the activity by shooting a souvenir video for the children. They go out on the flight, and also work as supporters.
Dreamflight is not just a holiday. The children leave their families behind, giving them an opportunity to discover independence, confidence and a whole new outlook on life. Often for the first time, these children realise that they are not alone, and they are not the odd ones out. They see children around them who have also suffered, they gain perspective, and experience things they never thought possible.
Dreamflight, which has run every year since 1987, believes that fun and joy are just as important as medical research and equipment – it can do something medicine can’t.
“Dreamflight has taught me a lot of things. One is to never let your illness put you down, always look on the bright side of life, and remember there is always someone out there who is worse off than you. I am now more confident in myself. Dreamflight wasn’t the place we went, it was the atmosphere and the happiness. I will never forget any of you.”
A Dreamflight Child
Several GTC members (including past Chair Graeme McAlpine) have helped out in the past, and John Tye collected a GTC Award for the camera team in 2010.
Read what Jon Boast has to say, who’s been helping since 2001, published in InFocus, December 2023.
Click here to read “Dreamflight: A film-maker’s delight” published in Zerb, Spring 2010. Find out more about supporting Dreamflight by emailing them at: office@dreamflight.org or see more about the charity at: www.dreamflight.org
