JACKIE Weaver - who shot to fame after appearing in a parish council’s heated Zoom meeting - has been working with a Bradford company to promote parish council membership.

Jackie, from Prees, hit the headlines last year when footage of a parish council meeting in Handforth, Cheshire, showed her booting out two troublesome council members and being famously told by one of them "you have no authority here".

After seeing an online post from Jackie, who was looking for ideas to promote local parish councils to a wider audience, Jon King, director of video production company Envisuals, reached out to see if the company, based in Carlisle Business Centre in Manningham, could help out.

The firm made a short video starring Jackie, to capture the interest of a broader audience with regard to getting involved with parish councils.

“Our aim was to capture a broader, nobody-gets-left-out audience and to diversify the range of voices that are contributing to our communities,” said creative director Christian Hardy.

“We took this opportunity to work our magic to make the video an informative and fun call to action, which we thought gelled nicely with the message of the video: that you don’t need to be an expert in politics to get involved in local democracy.”

In the video, which was shot in Knaresborough and runs for just over one minute, Jackie says: “None of us can change the world, but we can change our own back yard. You know what needs fixing in your community and you can have a say.”

She adds: “You will be well supported. There are lots of Jackie Weavers out there.”

The film will be shown online by the National Association of Parish Councils as well as across various social media channels. It is hoped that Bradford Council and others across West Yorkshire will use it.

Jackie told the T&A: “It was a terrific day in Knaresborough - what a beautiful place. The team were brilliant at bringing together the various aspects that make a good video - clear message, humour and excellent quality.

“We had lots of fun in the town although people asking for selfies did slow us down a bit.

“The message of the video - which is to be made freely and widely available at no cost - is to encourage the unusual suspects to get involved in local councils.

“There is lots of really great material out there to inform people - check out the ‘make a change’ campaign on nalc.gov.uk. But the bit that is missing is that spark that makes someone think ‘I could do that’ and I hope that is what this short video will encourage.”

Said Christian: “Working with Jackie was a treat - she allowed us free creative reign over the project in order to make the video entertaining; she was a patient subject for the camera, witty company, and thankfully humoured us in everything we asked of her - which included wearing a leather jacket and posing in front of a race car.

“Jackie has had a lot of experience in front of the camera since becoming thrust into the limelight, after the Handforth Parish Council Zoom meeting went viral.

“Even though Jackie certainly had the authority on the day, she kept us entertained with her whit, anecdotes and professionalism. We hope the video will encourage all kinds of people to become councillors and shake the image that politics is for an exclusive group of people.”

Based at Carlise Business Centre, Envisuals has a staff of five, offering video and animation services to schools, charities and a wide variety of businesses. They have previously worked with multiple local councils - including Leeds and Bradford - on campaigns that aid and encourage the enrichment of communities and the areas in which they are based.

The video can be seen on the company’s YouTube channel youtube.com/channel/UCrK975fj4UNjKy8xkH9oilg/videos