Theatre group stage Calendar Girls
A village production of the iconic stage show‘ calendar Girls: The Musical’ has ended its run on a high after raising more than £2000 for charity.
The fantastic sum was raised by Forest Theatre Company, who took to the stage of Gartmore Village Hall earlier this month in the musical version of the much-loved film.
Forest Theatre Company spokesperson Helen Webster said:“our show has just ended a four day run and we have been blown away by the amazing feedback we have received.
“A new word was created-‘craughing’, which meant folk were both crying and laughing. Standing ovations each night really made us feel special.
“But the main focus of the evening was that our raffle raised £2,027 for Blood Cancer UK.
“A big thank you to our audiences for their generosity and the local businesses who kindly donated fabulous prizes.”
The tiny village of Gartmore has been long known for being packed with more than its share of talented residents, many of whom are professional musicians and performers, so the local theatre company has plenty of talent and inspiration on the doorstep.
The cast had been delighted to receive a good luck message from one of the women who inspired the movie.
Angela, one of the real Calendar Girls on which the story is based, sent a card wishing the rural Stirlingshire performers all the best with their production.
The loss of Angela’s husband to leukaemia was the impetus for the original‘girls’to create a nude calendar to raise money for their local hospital and for leukaemia research.
Since the first Calendar Girls Calendar was created, the calendars, film, stage play and musical have raised over £6million for blood cancer research.