Romsey Abbey Technical Support
Romsey Abbey Technical Support (RATS) has evolved out of the Romsey Abbey Video Team (RAVT) over the last few years from the desire to allow the congregation in the side aisles and transepts to be able to see what is happening during major festival services.
From our humble beginning of having to beg and borrow equipment we have developed the service we provide to the congregation and audiences. We were very fortunate in early 2016 to be given some very generous gifts coupled with the money the team earns form outside events we have upgraded to HD cameras and projectors, improving the quality of our images significantly.
In addition to services in the Abbey at Easter, we relay images from the South Garth back into the Abbey during the Palm Sunday Service. This year we are planning to live stream the Remembrance Sunday Service form the Memorial Park in Romsey to the Abbey congregation who are not able to get there.
During an open day for the bell tower, we were able to provide a live relay of the bells ringing, visible both in the ringing chamber and also at ground level for those not able to climb the narrow stairs. Thus from the Abbey transept it was possible to watch both the bells and the ringers.
Over the last few years the team have provided a service for other churches from live screens for services concerts and recitals to filming Strictly ‘Come Dancing Southampton’ for the Where There’s a Will charity. We have also offered support and advice to other Churches looking to set up their own system.
In late 2015 we started streaming live (video and sound) some of our major services. We now stream to YouTube and Facebook every Sunday morning Eucharist as well as major festival services to support those in our congregation who are not able to attend as well as to a wider congregation. See our YouTube Channel here YouTube
In addition to live screens the team help support the Abbey in other technical areas such as lighting, sound and roof alarms.
We are always looking for new members, so if you are even just a little bit ‘techy’ then please come and have a chat or email David Newman.
In January 2016 we provided technical support (screens and lighting) for the amazing Tony O’Malley and His Band, below are 2 videos of their songs from the concert, special thanks to Tony for sharing these with us:
