Community

People's Parkfield Promotional advert - Discover a place where history meets community. Nestled overlooking Paignton’s picturesque seafront, People’s Parkfield is a beacon of revitalisation and opportunity for all.

"We've worked with John multiple times, most recently for our Youth Celebration Event. As ever, he took the time to understand what the event was about and the message we wanted to share. In every step of the process, he was professional, organised and calm. It was also fabulous that he was so open to adaptations as the project evolved. Highly recommended!"

Lisa Money
Partnership Manager
Imagine This
Torbay Communities
2026

"John was on the move and fast- with just a few weeks to turn things around. We collected lots of footage, gathered lots of stories for sports and physical activity across Torbay. I am looking forward to working more with John going forward. A joy to be around and love his creativity. More fun to come."
Joey Damiral - Partnership Officier Torbay - Active Devon - 2026

Torbay Baton of hope - The UK's largest Suicide Prevention Initiative
This film explores the background to the Baton of Hope, features interviews with people who made the day happen and looks at highlights from the day. This film was a collaboration involving the Torbay Baton of Hope team, South Devon College, Sound Communities, Torbay Communities, and drone photography by Jamie Hobbis. I served as the producer and editor, and filmed both the interviews and additional event footage.
In led up to the event I produced seven films with Baton Bearer focused films and films encouraging the community / businesses to be part of the 2025 Torbay Baton Of Hope.

"I approached John Tomkins from Emberlense about 2 years ago. I had by chance stumbled across his work when I was in a Multi-Agency Meeting. He had been commissioned to create a film which he presented to the group.

The result was amazing ! The film was able to capture the intimacy and profound work of the communities were working with but also maintain their privacy if that’s what they wanted. One thing I like was the ability to understand creative vision extremely quickly, even though it can appear left-field and to work with me and our communities in a creative imaginative way. I found the experience very enjoyable and working with Emberlense brought our hard work to life and we were able to share this far and wide which spread passion and enthusiasm throughout our wider communities and beyond. I have continued to work with Emberlense on multiple projects since. I would thoroughly recommend Emberlense to anyone who wants to create something intimate, creative, and effective!"

Bernadette McAuley
Community Mental Health Development Lead
Devon Mental Health Alliance

"John worked with me to document work happening with LocalMotion in Torbay. This involved filming live events, setting up and undertaking vox pop interviews, setting up visits to community projects and preparing and filming longer interviews and capturing footage to demonstrate their work. He edited a lot of footage down to create short films and longer narratives. He was able to present a good edit and then work with me to fine tune it.

John can see the wider story to tell, as well as its component parts and brings ideas to best tell it. His approach is very easy going, complimenting his great skill in story telling and his commitment to the community around him. He forms relationships easily across a range of characters and can draw out a good tale. He is a great collaborator, responds quickly to requests, completes work efficiently and effectively and is tolerant of others if they are not so prompt.

We’ve got a range of short and longer films that really reflect the strength of community in Torbay. Thank you John!"

Jo Curtis (Systemic Change Partner at local motion Torbay) Oct 2023

"In 2018 the Bay Education Trust received a £4m government grant to demolish an old 1920s building at Paignton Academy and rebuild a new state of the art catering and performance centre in its place. The Trust wanted to record a visual narrative from beginning to end and commissioned John Tomkins and Emberlense to document the process. The result was an eight minute video entitled ‘Our Journey.’ The Trust is delighted that we chose Emberlense for the recording of the project and is very pleased with the video which was shown to the one hundred guests who attended the official opening of the new building on January 10th 2020. It will form an ongoing part of the Academy’s website."

Regards
Stephen Kings
Chief Executive – Bay Education Trust
2020

"Working with John on our film was an absolute pleasure. Throughout all stages, his professionalism and knowledge stood out, resulting in a finished product we are all immensely proud of. We have received great feedback from everyone who has seen the film and it has raised our profile as a charity. John was incredibly helpful during the process, making any small changes we requested and I could not recommend him highly enough."

Andy Bichard, Manager, Paignton Community Larder

"The 2nd Torbay Local Entrepreneur Forum and Community of Dragons took place at the Palace Theatre’s Stage Left venue on 1 December 2022. It was a super successful, well attended event which brought the community together to support four early stage social enterprises. John Tomkins of Emberlense enabled us to share the event with a much wider audience who could not attend. His comprehensive filming of the event, great editing and presentation mean that we have a range of excellent videos of different lengths, plus great collages and stills which we will be using into the future. These allowed us to show the funders (Torbay Council) what we did with their money, and will be a great resource when we invite people to come to the 3rd event later this year."

Chris Gunson
Co-Founder and Director
Local Spark: Torbay Community supported Enterprise CIC
Feb 2023

"May I express my appreciation to John Tomkins and Emberlense for the work undertaken on the Torbay Domestic Abuse videos. From approaching John, we found that the project was professionally supported, guided and we were very pleased with the finished product. Our suggestions and ideas were taken on board and the videos were filmed on location, appropriate actors were sourced, and the videos delivered quickly, to a very high standard, and to our agreed budget."

Dr Kevin Dixon
Director Healthwatch Torbay
part of the Standing tall partnership
2020