A Somerset charity film group is looking for two volunteers with experience of project management and knowledge of running film enterprises, especially in Africa.

They would work part-time and the jobs, while unpaid, offer plenty of excitement and satisfaction – ideal for people who have retired but want to take on something useful again.

Purple Fields Productions has been running since 2004, when founder Elspeth Waldie sold a field to raise the funds to make its first feature film.

That and subsequent ones can be seen on the group’s website, and the charity now needs help as it expands.

In 1999 Elspeth was teaching in Bangladesh, where a local organisation called the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed aimed to make a film raising the status of people confined to wheelchairs.

“Many assume that the handicapped are incapable of achieving great things, and CRP felt everyone should be reminded that this is not the case,” said Elspeth.

She wrote the script of a story about a heroine in a wheelchair, emphasising what she could do instead of what she could not.

“It was typical Bollywood,” she said. “It had everything ? love story, kidnap, car chase, dancing, a bad man and heroes – and the heroine in the wheelchair wins the day, beating the baddie.”

The film, called Bihongo, toured cinemas and was screened on television before being taken around rural areas, where prejudice against the disabled was greatest. CRP estimated that 150,000 people watched the film, and it resulted in social workers holding discussions on disability.

Back in England, Elspeth formed her film group, and she discovered a local group called Somerset Film and Video, a charity offering digital media expertise.

The Purple Fields Productions team is now active across Africa … and the team needs two more executive volunteer trustees to take responsibility for projects overseas and cope with administration.

Anyone who thinks they could help or wants to know more should email [email protected].