A Birmingham drummer, who teaches drumming and percussion to Birmingham school children, has become the face – and hands – of a national advertising campaign celebrating the work of pandemic key workers.

Goggie*, as he is best known, works for Birmingham-based Services For Education and is now appearing in a national advertising campaign undertaken by Vaseline which has put its hands together with celebrated UK photographer Rankin to applaud those who have continued to deliver during the pandemic.

Goggie, whose real name is Robert Ifill and who lives in Northfield, Birmingham, is an African Caribbean drummer and dance facilitator with the Birmingham-based charity that teaches music to 38,000 children in the city, provides 28,000 musical instruments free of charge and whose School Support Service provides expert and professional training and development in 570 schools.

Despite the pandemic and lockdown, Goggie has continued his music teaching working alongside colleagues at Services For Education whose music service has continued its work throughout the pandemic.

Goggie was selected as one of three key workers in a campaign to showcase the extraordinary efforts of those who have gone above and beyond to help those in need.

He is joined by Kaitlyn, an emergency call handler who over the phone helped a first-time father deliver his baby, and Katy, a supermarket worker who worked through the night to ensure everyone could access the food they needed.

“It was just a chance conversation and I was encouraged to send a video of myself to the ad agency. I was amazed that I was considered and even more astonished that I was selected,” said Goggie, who has worked at Services For Education since 2011 and developed his drumming and dance skills whilst living in the Caribbean.

Sharon Bell, Chief Executive of Services For Education, said: “Goggie exemplifies all that is great about our 242 staff. Despite huge disruption to schools and teaching, they have carried on – delivering more than 7,000 hours of online teaching in just 12 weeks, producing 450 new music training videos and moving all our training courses on-line.

“They are all inspirations, and we are delighted that Goggie was selected to represent music teachers from across the UK who have worked so hard to deliver and keep children engaged and enthused.”

The TV ad campaign coincides with Vaseline’s 150^th Anniversary in which it highlights the pivotal role hands play in consumers’ daily lives and why, says the brand, it is more important to take care of them now than ever.

Vaseline’s ‘Healing the hands of the nation’ campaign is currently featuring on UK commercial TV.

The commercial is available to view at https://www.instagram.com/p/CHdcubGhO0o/

Vaseline home page UK: https://www.vaseline.com/uk/en