- The PIGS | Amy Banks -

Rank: Director
Role: Pre Investigation Co-Ordinator / Lab Team
Contact: amy.banks@the-pigs.co.uk
Member since: May 2007

Member of the month July 2007 for outstanding contribution on the Iron Duke Investigation

About me:
Most of the time, I'm busy being a mum. I have two small boys who certainly make life interesting! On occasion, babysitters permitting, I manage to get down to the pub too!

Mission:
To ensure all P.I.G.S operations go smoothly and have all the relevant equipment, data, paperwork and reports needed. To maintain regular contact with all team members for updates and leads. To produce professional documentation for members of the public to see. To be part of the best paranormal group around!

Why:
I joined the P.I.G.S, at first, for my own curiosity. Going ghost hunting sounded like fun and I wanted to see what actually happened. Since then I have found myself more involved as I become ever more impressed with the P.I.G.S setup. To me this is a very credible paranormal investigation groups. Not content to just sit around in the dark and "call up spooks", P.I.G.S is determined to capture evidence, in many forms, of paranormal activity. The location research is always as in-depth as possible and comes from many sources which adds an enormous amount to the experience. They do all of this and yet still manage to be very good fun!

Qualities:
As well as a new perspective on ideas or suggestions, I also bring a fairly wide-ranging technical knowledge to the group. I'm comfortable doing both public research and taking groups around on investigations. My strengths include: being easy going, hard working, thoughtful and that I'm able to see the small details.

What the role involves:
Ensuring that all aspects of P.I.G.S operations run smoothly with all the resources they need. I also, after discussing and agreeing with the group, decide what areas we need to focus on and ideally how the workload should be shared out.

I am also very involved on the research side as Pre Investigation Co-Ordinator. Once a location is chosen, I will regularly contact the rest of the research team to gather updates and any leads that need to be followed up. As part of the research team, I aim to gather as much information on our investigation location as I can from internet based sources, as well as being an active member of the public research team. Once all areas of research have been fully covered (paper based, internet and public), I will then collate the information and present it in a case file for the group.

On an investigation evening, I am responsible for helping set up the technical equipment, taking part in the presentation and leading a group safely around a location. Making a group feel comfortable and happy are my main objectives as well as answering any questions and helping with any technical difficulties. It is also my job to ensure that my group is following, and trying to achieve our objectives and that by doing so we're not disturbing other groups or any local residents.

Special interests:
Computers - both software and hardware, anything creative, reading, cooking.