A group of brave and caring colleagues staged a fabulous Full Monty-style show and raised £18,500 for a Cumbrian cancer charity.
Amanda Slattery and her team from Maya Maya on Wainwright’s Yard in Kendal smashed their initial target of £10,000 and raised a staggering amount of money to help children and adults facing cancer. They are still raising funds and hope to have raised £20,000 by the end of 2018.
The show at Kendal Rugby Club on Friday, November 30, was a sell-out success with more than 180 people watching and supporting Maya Maya’s fundraising activities for CancerCare North Lancashire and South Cumbria.
It was the sixth fundraising event that Amanda had done for local charities and was her biggest to date.
The show featured several highly entertaining scenes themed on the movies and a final Full Monty-style ‘reveal’ which earned the performers a standing ovation.
Amanda said: “I actually hadn’t thought about what we were about to do until the last minute and my hook and eye got stuck! I had to rip the Velcro for the reveal!
“I’ll never ever forget that moment. The noise from the crowd was absolutely incredible. My hair still stands up on end thinking about it!
“We looked at each other and thought: ‘We’ve done it!’ It went so fast. It was amazing to get a standing ovation. It was an excellent night”
Amanda’s friend, Sheila Jones from Kendal, took part in the show as she’d had surgery for breast cancer.
Sheila thanked everyone who had contributed to the fundraising activities and said: “I’m here because of you!”
Amanda’s husband Stephen’s band, The Pazoozalators, played an upbeat set of popular music and comedian, Steffen Peddie, kept everyone well entertained with his hilarious and self-deprecating comedy routines.
The raffle, which included fantastic prizes worth nearly £2,000, was won by Amanda Milburn from Kendal.
Amanda thanked everyone who supported the event including Rachel Miller and her team from various HSBC branches for making sure everything ran smoothly, for doing the raffle on the night and for match funding sums raised by the team.
Amanda went on to thank photographer, Ian Wood, who donated his services and Kendal jeweller, Jonathan May, of The Studio Workshop, who made a stunning jewel-encrusted pendant that was auctioned off for £900 and match-funded by HSBC, achieving a fantastic £1,800 in total for the charity.
Amb-Vision was thanked for making a wonderful video of the night free of charge and Optiport-Audio was thanked for providing the lighting. Everyone who donated a raffle prize was also thanked.
Amanda said she wished to thank her team – Carly Jones, Leanne Addison and Bev Tyson – for the huge amount of time and effort they had put into the show.
She also thanked her friends Mandy Etherington, Jacqui Laurence, Jenny Davies, Becky Swallow, Matty Kaye, Joanne Nelson, Katie Louise Pimblett, Sheila Jones, Sally Longden and her husband, Steve Slattery, for their superb performances.
Neil Townsend, Chief Executive of CancerCare, said: “I am amazed and extremely grateful to Amanda and everyone who took part in the show.
“Their generosity is overwhelming. I am also delighted that people affected by cancer were in the show. This makes it very special indeed.
“By raising such a large amount of money, Amanda and her team will enable us to help a huge number of people at our Lakes Centre on Blackhall Road in Kendal. We are eternally grateful for this wonderful support.”
There is a wide selection of photographs from the night on the Maya Maya Facebook page.
To donate to Maya may’s fundraising appeal for CancerCare please text MAYA87 to 70070 (for example, ‘MAYA87 £10) or go to: www.JustGiving.com/fundraising/mayamaya
Amanda also has a rail of donated scarves at Maya Maya which cost £10 each and every penny goes to CancerCare. Donations of more scarves would be gratefully received.
Follow Maya Maya on Instagram at: @mayamayalimited or Twitter at: @MayaMayaLtd and Facebook at: @MayaMayaKendal or on their website at: www.mayamaya.co.uk
The shop can be contacted on: 01539 737 366.
If you would like to find out more about the free support offered by CancerCare for individuals and their friends and family members in South Cumbria and North Lancashire, please go to www.cancercare.org.uk or call the Lakes Centre in Kendal on 01539 735 800.
