Bringing People Together
Who we are...
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Celebrate Life is currently three people: Roni, Wendy and Rob. We all have a passion for the arts and combining the arts with a meaningful message. We started out 16 years ago with the same ambitions as today but fewer resources. In 2019 we formalised into a Community Initiative Company and became Celebrate Life CIC. Big thanks to Wallee who joined the Celebrate Life journey for 13 years and stepped down early 2025.
Filmmaking has become a large part of what we do, especially after creating the documentary Power to Change in 2021 on the topic of knife crime in London. Many of the films we create are used in our peace workshops, developed for teenagers and young adults in London. Below is a bit more about each of us, how our journey has lead us to here and why we do what we do.
Artist and film-maker, you will usually see Wendy with camera in hand at the Celebrate Life events, or behind the AV desk lining up the visual content. Wendy is our in-house designer, creating the flyers, sending out the mailings, editing the videos and creating this website.
She is also a singer/song-writer specialising in North Indian Classical Vocal and traditional Celtic melodies. You can see some of her music here: https://www.youtube.com/@WendyLewis
Wendy Lewis
Wendy grew up for the most part in rural France, living with her family on several acres of land which they farmed sustainably while running a small publishing company. She was educated at home and had ample time to pursue her interests, especially art.
She moved to London in 2008 and remembers the culture shock, coming from a place where she could walk all day and not meet a soul, to the bustling metropolis that is London. She now juggles motherhood with her Celebrate Life activities.
‘Being part of this team is immensely rewarding. When people work together for peace, wonderful things happen - it’s an honour to watch the magic unfold.’
Roni Redmond
Roni is sometimes described as the glue that holds Celebrate Life together. Liaising, planning and organising, she’s an integral part of the team.
Roni was born in Cyprus, and came to the UK at seven years old to escape the political unrest in the former British colony. Music, dance and the arts are her passions, and throughout her life she has used her talents in a variety of ways. She started her working career as a secretary at BBC Radio, meeting an array of interesting creative people. After leaving the BBC she was self-employed working at Portobello Road and Camden markets buying and selling vinyl records and enjoying being part of a free flow dance and mime troupe, before meeting her husband, getting married and having a family.
In the 1990s she picked up her career collaborating with student union, local performers and health organisations to organise educational music festivals - raising awareness around HIV, drug abuse, racism and homelessness. Now a Grandmother, Roni loves bringing people together to share their humanity, and being part of Celebrate Life is the perfect opportunity to do this.
‘When we connect with who we truly are - a being created in love - we shine as Human Beings - Homo Sapiens, Wise men - Wise people!’
Rob Dunford
Rob Dunford started his career working in Post-Production at ITV, UK. From there he decided to develop his skills first in location sound, working on two short narrative films set in Spain and then as a freelance sound engineer with director Bashart Malik on several indie shorts set around the Bristol area.
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It was around this time that he met Celebrate Life and took on the role of camera/sound capture for music events that Celebrate Life were organising. Since then Rob Dunford has worked exclusively for Celebrate Life on numerous short films and the documentary Power to Change.
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"Being a part of Celebrate Life, has challenged me to aim higher and higher in our video productions. Never would I have imagined I would be helping this small group of creatives produce such inspiring material. It’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks."
