Some services don’t fit neatly inside four walls. For a recent memorial service in Chieveley, near Newbury, we provided a funeral video relay so guests could follow everything clearly from a marquee next to the church, around 150m away.
The aim was simple: a respectful, dependable funeral video link that carried both video and audio from the church to an overflow space – with clear sound, a proper relay screen, and no disruption to the service.
The location: Chieveley church, near Newbury
The service took place at St Mary the Virgin, Chieveley, a Church of England parish church on Church Lane, set in the Downland north of Newbury.
What is a “live relay” (and why it matters at funerals)?
A live relay (sometimes called a funeral video relay) is a real-time feed from the main service space to an additional area on the same site – often a hall, side room, or a marquee.
For families, it helps when:
- attendance is larger than the available seating
- you want to keep everyone together on one site
- the church layout limits sightlines or audibility
Done well, a relay feels calm and supportive: people can see, hear, and participate without crowding.
How we delivered the relay: armoured fibre from church to marquee
Because the marquee was a fair distance from the church, we ran the link over our armoured fibre, which is ideal for longer runs where you want reliability and low-latency transport without the pitfalls of wireless interference.
This approach is commonly used for:
- Funeral video relay / memorial service AV
- large outdoor/overflow spaces
- sites where a hardwired connection is the safest option
Marquee setup: large screen + clean, intelligible audio
Inside the marquee we provided:
- 100″ large screen on an electric lift (a proper large screen solution that stays tidy during setup and strikes away neatly)
- 2 × RCF ART-910A speakers for clear coverage
This gave guests a comfortable viewing experience with speech clarity as the priority – essentially a mobile “second room” for the service.
Church setup: camera, sound desk, and radio mics
In the church we installed and operated:
- Blackmagic 4K camera
- Yamaha DM3 digital desk
- 4 × Sennheiser radio mics
- Lectern
- Vicar
- Ambient ×2 (to capture the room naturally)
This combination works well for services because it supports:
- clean spoken word (without sounding “over-produced”)
- consistent levels for the relay
- a natural sense of being present, especially with ambient mics
Recording the service
We also recorded the service, which can be important for family and friends who can’t attend in person. We keep this side of the job low-profile and sensitive – the focus is always the service itself.
PA hire and AV hire for Newbury funerals and services in Chieveley
If you’re arranging a funeral, memorial, or celebration of life in the Newbury area, we can provide:
- Funeral video relay (church to marquee / hall / overflow room)
- Relay screen options (including large format displays)
- PA Hire for clear speech and gentle music playback
- full AV Hire with professional setup and on-site operation