Funeral Live Streaming in a Church With No Signal — St Nicholas', Charlwood

Some funerals are straightforward to stream. This was not one of them.

I provided the funeral live streaming for a traditional Church of England funeral at St Nicholas’ Church in Charlwood, a village on the edge of Gatwick, a few minutes from Crawley and Horley.

St Nicholas’ is a Grade I listed Norman church, with parts dating from around 1080. It has thick stone walls, leaded stained-glass windows and nationally important medieval wall paintings. That history is why families choose it. It is also why there is almost no mobile signal inside.

A Church With No Signal

Charlwood is a poor-signal village. The church warden lives opposite and has to stand on her front step to make a call. If she moves, it drops.

Inside the church, thick walls and leaded glass block what little signal there is. Venue Wi-Fi was not an option I would rely on anyway. This needed satellite funeral streaming thinking from the start: find a usable connection, then build the cameras and audio around it.

Why One Connection Was Never Going to Be Enough

One mobile network would not have been reliable enough. I bonded four connections from different networks so the stream could keep going if one of them dipped.

The cameras and microphones had to work from the best positions for the service. The streaming box had to sit where the signal actually existed. Those two places were not the same.

I mixed the cameras in the church, then sent that feed wirelessly across to the streaming box at the signal point. Cabling the whole building was not practical.

Backup recordings ran independently, so the family would still have the service if the live feed had failed.

The Service

The funeral directors arrived early and had the church ready, with the coffin already in place as guests arrived.

The service was led by the vicar, Sue — warm, calm and easy to work with. There were tributes, readings, hymns and the traditional shape of a Church of England funeral. I had a camera angle that could see faces at the tall lectern, coverage of the coffin, and dedicated microphones on the minister and lectern. The organ provided the music.

The Result

The stream ran from start to finish. Family and friends watched live on more than 67 devices in England, Scotland, Australia and Canada.

That is the point of professional funeral live streaming in a building like this. A phone would not have held. A fixed venue camera was not available. The family needed someone who could solve the signal first, then film the service.

Funeral Streaming in Crawley, Charlwood and Horley

If your family’s service is at an old church, a rural chapel or anywhere you are worried about signal, this is the kind of funeral I am set up for.

Coverage in this area is here:
Funeral Live Streaming in Crawley

You can also see more real services on my Real Funerals page, or read how funeral live streaming works.