‘I want my footage to boost town’s tourism’
ANORTHERN Lights tour guide operator from Runcorn has captured stunning aerial footage of his hometown and Halton Castle while on a visit from Lapland where he now lives.
Tony Bateman, 35, was amazed at the results of the drone’s video of the castle, revealing the Norman fort’s grandeur as seen from above.
The camera’s view also sweeps out to the river revealing the Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee bridges between the greenery of Runcorn and Widnes and Liverpool beyond.
Tony, who packed his life into a Volvo with his Finnish girlfriend Piritta Lampinein in 2010, said the footage showed the potential Runcorn has for its own tourism boom.
From medieval sights such as the castle and Norton Priory to the bridges, Wigg Island, The Brindley, canal boats and wider waterways, he said that having been blessed with his family and work in Lapland, he now hopes to put something back into Runcorn and thinks a video montage of its places of interest could raise its profile and attract tourists.
He even mooted that the town could make a bid to return to its former status as a health resort before the industrial revolution.
Tony’s claims now come with a rich life experience and lessons learned from turning his life upside down and moving to Lapland and setting up his now thriving tour company, Aurora Service Tours, which now needs to employ multiple seasonal staff every year.
Originally from The Wheatlands, Halton Brook, and later Manor Fell, Tony left St Chad’s High School aged 15 with no GCSEs and went on to work in places such as HK Plastics bucket handles processing factory in Astmoor, Runcorn.
He later worked in IT in Liverpool where he met his girlfriend Piritta – now his fiancee and mother to his son Turku.
Tragically, Piritta’s father died in 2010, triggering their move to her homeland in Finland.
Tony said was not given access to Halton Castle and he waited for the ● ● Tony Bateman’s footage of Halton Castle ruins. Tony now wants to raise the town’s profile with potential tourists by creating a video montage of places of interest car park bins to be emptied before returning to make sure the shot looked its best.
He said: “I thought ‘I can’t film that, it’s going on Youtube.
“I went back when the bins were emptied and put one (a video) on Facebook of the Mersey Gateway and put that one (castle video) on Youtube.
“I wanted to do a few more – Runcorn Hill and the Water Tower – for a little montage tourism video.
“Most people have got a website like ‘york.co.uk’, I don’t think Runcorn’s got that – ‘ Visit Runcorn’.
“Tourism is a massive boost to any economy and we live in Lapland in the winter and it’s had a real bare bones economy and I’ve seen the ● tourism come and it’s a real boost, an injection of cash and that brings in other benefits like for infrastructure. “There’s no real down side.” Discussing his hopes for Runcorn and the impact from the Mersey Gateway bridge, he said: “I think it’s really positive, this should have been done a long time ago – it’s a good thing.
“Coming back this year, nearly every single road, expressway, access to the M56 has changed and heavy traffic is everywhere.
“It’s probably a pain in the backside being stuck in it but in the long term it’s going to really benefit Runcorn.”