What a fun week we’ve had! After a wonderful first week, Team Maurice moved on to the next leg of our tour, starting off at Keech Hospice in Luton in the first day and then going on to Rainbow Hospice in Leicester on the second. Both of these hospices had a great number of people attending and even though some of the children did seem a little wary of the puppets at the start they all grew to love them. What a lovely start to our second week!
Our third show of the week was in Sheffield at Bluebell Woods Hospice, where we arrived to a gorgeous snow scene! We had a smaller audience here but we still brought all of the energy to what was one of the most rewarding shows of the tour. Harry, Benson and Robin Bird even got to meet the reindeer and ‘chill out’ in the winter wonderland! We even had a little bit of time to check out the city and it’s safe to say we loved it! (Yorkshire wrap anyone?)
From here we then travelled to Huddersfield to begin our first of two 2-show days starting off at Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice. From the moment we walked in, we were greeted with a really enthusiastically energetic group! We knew we were in for some great shows. Our favourite moments here had to come from our wonderful 'volunteer' Snowmen! They both had an amazing time (and if you ask me, I think they’d had some experience - they were just so good!)
Next we moved on to Blackpool for our first show of the day at Brian House, where we had a smaller audience of wonderful children and careers alike but they knew how to party! We had some very curious children who wanted to see all of the set and meet all of our puppets! Truly a wonderful show.
Next we went to Derian House in Lancashire who had one of the BIGGEST audiences we’d seen all tour! Which was amazing! Especially when it came around to the snowball fight - our poor Yule Lad was ducking and diving so much it looked like he was in the Matrix!
And last, but by no means least, we finished our second week off at Claire House in Merseyside. This was by far one of our most cherished shows on the tour. We loved every second of it. And by the looks of it so did our wonderful audience! We had a great sized crowd who weren’t afraid to get stuck in. They even helped us clearing up at the end and made sure every puppet got a big hug!
It’s been a wonderful week and I feel so incredibly privileged to be a part of Christmas For Kids. Everything they do comes from a place of love and joy and I’m so lucky to have played a part in what has been a wonderful Christmas tour.
Dan, Team Maurice xx