Leigh984, The creative portfolio of Leigh Spencer

On the 27th October 2013 much of the UK was battered by Storm St Jude. I travelled to Cornwall to witness the storm as it made landfall on the Cornish coast. High waves and strong winds battered the coastline and the lighthouse at Godrevey as the storm approached. Despite the epic scene a small Kestrel hovered in front of me its head and eyes fixed on its prey below whist it expertly used its wings to steady itself against the gale force wind that made my attempts to stay stood upright look futile in comparison. I later moved on to Newquay and the famous Cribbar wave which like a monster rose from sea and smashed into the rocks below, as the wind speed increased we set off for home. images follow

I take a look at the range of bright Autumn (fall) colours now on show around Leicestershire. The days may be getting shorter and the weather cooler but with them come a riot of oranges yellows and fiery reds as the leaves change colour, My film focuses on the dance of the leaves as they are blown in the wind set against an increasingly stormy sky. images follow.

In this film I take a look at The Gravity Slate Train that operated as part of the railways 150th Anniversary event in 2013, When the Festiniog Railway first opened in 1836 and before steam arrived, all "down" trains were worked by gravity. A horse would pull the empty wagons to the top of the mountain and after being loaded with slate they would be allowed to travel back down under their own weight with the horse riding in specially designed dandy wagons. When Steam was introduced to the railway (in 1863) they took the place of the horses in leading the trains. My film features the locomotive Prince working hard to lead the wagons on wet tracks before being uncoupled and allowing the wagons to travel back down the line with a brakesman at the front sounding his horn to alert the station master to the trains imminent gravity powered arrival. images follow

I travelled to Wales for the Ffestiniog Railway 150th Anniversary event '1863 and all that !'. Recreating scenes from the railway's early days authentic steam engines from the era where accompanied by costumed characters and events along the length of the railway. Highlights included a line-up of vintage engines at Porthmadog Ffestiniog, a variety of freight trains and an Early-morning Victorian Train with authentic carriages including the unique 'flying bench' on which passengers sit back to back along the length of the carriage. Alongside the events on the railway there where demonstrations of pre-steam mining techniques people in Victorian era dress and 'Rails On The Wharf' in which horse drawn slate wagons where demonstrated my video of which can be seen at Leigh984- 'Rails on the warf' images follow

Rails On The Wharf features a demonstration of Horse drawn slate wagons of the type used widely in Wales during its mining past. The Horse is seen walking the length of the rails before returning lead by its owners in period costume. The demonstration was part of the Ffestiniog Railway`s 150th Anniversary event in Porthmadog and took place on the Wharf alongside the harbour area of the town. images follow.

A Poster designed for the charity Menphys advertising their annual Children for Children Carol Concert at the Leicester`s De Montfort hall. The Poster was designed following the brief of a traditional Christmas Carol Concert poster  with modern elements, the colour scheme mixes the charity's well known red with blues and whites allowing for a snowy Christmas feel the layout follows the brand guidelines created for the charity by myself for use across all public facing output. As the charity works with children an element of playfulness is achieved with the inclusion of Santa hats and Rudolph antlers on a couple of the letters.

On the 30th Anniversary of Thrust 2 breaking the World Land Speed Record I visited the Coventry Transport Museum to meet driver Richard Noble and designer John Ackroyd. Thrust 2 is a British designed and built jet propelled car, which held the world land speed record from 1983 to 1997 and is currently on display at Coventry`s Transport Museum. The car (designed by John Ackroyd and driven by Richard Noble) reached a top speed of 650.88 mph (1,047.49 km/h) breaking the World Land Speed record at 633.468 mph (1,019.468 km/h) at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, USA on October 4, 1983. 2013 marks the 30th anniversary of this achievement and a special event was held at the Coventry Transport Museum (the cars current home) allowing the public a chance to get a close look at the car and meet the team behind it. The Cars successor (and current holder of the Land Speed Record) Thrust SSC is also housed at the museum and is also featured in my video.