12:08pm Sunday 22nd July 2007
By Gemma Wheatley
A 70-year-old grandmother from Kingston has released a music video after her friends and family made it for as a surprise birthday present.
Helen Rae Cooper, from the Cambridge estate, wrote the song, Talking Circles, over 20 years ago about aliens visiting earth, but never managed to get it produced.
So as an extra special 70th birthday present Helen's family got together to turn her dream into a reality.
The actors and actresses were played by her two grandaughters, niece and nephew, and the video was filmed in their bedroom with Helen's niece, Lisa, in charge of the make up.
Helen said: "I was really embarrassed but absolutely delighted when they showed me the video. Most people say I am very outgoing but I am actually very shy. I felt over the moon though that they had done it."
The mother of three daughters, grandmother of seven and great grandmother of two, has been writing songs for 40 years and more than 20 singers have recorded songs that she has written.
Some have been released, including one that was published by Sony and since the Talking Circles video has been put onto the internet a film director, Ian Paterson, has approached her.
An agreement has since been reached to include the song in a feature film - Rosswell 1847 - due for release in the winter.
The film stars Norman Lovet - who starred in Red Dwarf and The Young Ones.
Helen said: "It is so exciting that it is going to be used in a film, it is not quite Steven Spielberg but it is still very nerveracking."
The video was also voted the best video by Internet Video Magazine within a week of it being posted.
Talking Circles is about aliens visiting earth to leave messages in crop circles' as a warning about environmental disasters.
Helen's songs mainly include ballads and rock sings but she says that she has always had a belief in the supernatural world.
She said: "I believe in ghosts and all that sort of stuff and this came from that really - but I have also written a lot of songs for children and many love songs too."
Helen's beliefs came into good use in the 1980's when she survived a major road accident.
She explains: "I had eight breaks in my leg, a broken ankle, broken knee, broken pelvis and a broken shoulder. I was in intensive care for three weeks but my family and friends were all praying for me and someone up there decided to give me a second chance and I thank the Lord for that."
To see the video visit talkingcircles.co.uk.
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