50 disadvantaged children had a great ‘hair-raising’ experience, when the London Taxidrivers’ Charity for Children took them to see the matinee performance of smash hit musical ‘Hairspray’ at the Shaftesbury Theatre, Shafesbury Avenue on Saturday 26th September 2009.
The children were driven to the theatre in a convoy of 18 taxis decorated with blue ‘Hairspray’ balloons and in no time the quiet City of London came alive with the sounds of horns blaring and flashing lights. It was a lovely sunny day and many pedestrians and people sitting outside cafes were waving to the children, who in turn frantically waved back, trying hard to master the art of the ‘royal’ wave as they felt so special.
The show started at 3pm and it was a sight to behold watching the looks of amazement on the children’s faces, especially as many of the children had never been to a theatre before. The children had been put forward for this outing by the Police and were very deserving of this special treat. Ice creams were given out to everyone during the interval and I took the opportunity to chat to some of the excited children, one little boy telling me it was his best day ever, asking whether what he was watching was real or TV!
A further surprise was in store for the children at the end of the show when three leading members of the cast, Brian Conley, Chloe Hart and Liam Tamne came out to meet them and have photos taken and we thank them for this kind gesture, especially as they were all due back on stage again at 7.30pm.
The Hon. President, Hon. Chairman and Committee are deeply grateful to Jon Kissack at Stage Entertainment and his team for all their help and support in putting this day together and for the kind donation of the tickets, which enabled us to give these children a day they will cherish forever. Our grateful thanks must go to all the drivers and helpers, Ben Heath of the NCP Car Park, Museum Street, WC1 for kindly donating the taxi parking spaces and to Richard Green of Simons Electrical Wholesalers, Honeypot Lane, Stanmore for his donation. This show can only be described as brilliant, amazing, happy and funny and a musical with everything and if you have not seen it yet, you are really missing out !