Page 62 - Phonebox Magazine June 2010

DAVID PIBWORTH COLUMN – Help for Heroes
Well, this article is all about Help for Heroes which is the charity that we at MK Theatre of Comedy supported this year. As you can see by the photos taken by Kevin Viney, one of our sponsors, we had a fine time re-running old Python and Pete and Dud sketches. All in all we raised £1,300 for the charity and handed it over to Mark Lancaster MP, who is a serving member of the armed forces and so this is something close to his heart as well as to all of our other sponsors and audience.
The amount we raised just would not have been possible without the help of our sponsors. They were Kevin Viney photography, Borneo’s, Stephen Oakley Estate Agents, Orchard Press, Twinkle Twinkle, Kim Construction, Art Mart, Wakes Manor Livery Yard, and Mark Lancaster. They all sponsored a sketch, and David and Jean Minney also sent a donation to us and as we know they are keen supporters of Help For
Heroes having raised a great deal of money for the cause recently. James and Mark at The Bull at Olney are also great supporters of MKTOC and the charity, allowing us to use their rooms for our rehearsals and shows. It’s a triumph for Olney really to have such support.
Our main sponsor was
Garrard and Allen who
covered all of our overheads
right at the start for the
Madcap theatre hire and
publicity thus putting us in a
position to raise this amount and for that we are truly grateful. I can’t let it pass that my old pal, Robert Marchant of Garrard and Allen, made a surprise appearance on stage on the last show. Right in the middle of the
Bruces sketch, he marched on stage in full army uniform to berate us for being “Far Too Silly” in true Graham Chapman style. For those who might have thought it was set up, you need only look at my face on the video
of the show to see that this was most certainly not a planned appearance. And it was all the more funny for that I have to say. To attempt the last laugh we sprayed beer onto his uniform. Oh how I laughed until I found out that he’d nipped into our offices and borrowed the uniform from the MK Theatre of Comedy costume department.
So, as we put away the scripts, probably for the last time, we can be pleased that all of us, actors, sponsors and audience have helped a great cause.
Whatever any of us think about those who start these unwinnable wars from their comfy Whitehall offices, the servicemen and women who put their lives at risk on the front line to sort it all out deserve the full support from the people of the country they serve.
David Pibworth presenting Mark Lancaster the cheque.
Photos: ʻFringe to Monty Pythonʼ a Dave Pibworth production – Kevin Viney Photography.
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62 Phonebox Magazine