A Loreto Student, Matthew Montgomery has received the High Sheriff of Greater Manchester Award for Young Citizen of the Year, for outstanding contributions towards social action by helping improve the lives of others and addressing the issues that are important to the people of Greater Manchester.

Over the course of the past year or so, Matthew has edited Mass and other religious services for his parish, St Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, Didsbury. He’s produced over 170 videos, which are watched by over 500 people each week and have been accessed nearly 45,000 times by local community members and by others around the globe, providing a valuable lifeline during lockdown to the local community and beyond.

The Young Citizen’s Award was created to recognise and celebrate the huge role young people make in local communities, making them safer and better places to live. The work that Matthew has carried out this past year certainly achieves this.

We had the privilege to speak with Matthew about his involvement and how it came to be. He wanted develop understanding of how a computer is made and decided to build his own from scratch and began learning the basics of video editing and filming. He produced a test video initially, a week before the first lockdown and then created a Youtube channel to broadcast the Mass worldwide. What began as a static lo-fi go-pro production, became a dynamic recording that weaves live audio/visual from the parish and remote contributions from members of the congregation, all seamlessly put together by Matthew in post-production. You can visit Matthew’s work on the you tube channel here and visit the website: https://www.st-catherines-didsbury.co.uk/

Matthew said:

I am honoured, but it took me ages to let the news sink in. I never knew I was nominated for it. The Priest and member of the parish had put me forward. I’m really proud!

 

Matthew has learned a lot of new skills and he hopes to continue to develop these by studying media at university later this year. His family and friends, teachers and the Loreto community are incredibly proud of his achievements.

Matthew particularly wanted to thank his Media Studies teachers for the support. With   their help he has found his calling in life.