Following on from a quick pit-stop home for Christmas, Team Benson headed back down to London for show number fifteen. We were headed this time to Richard House Hospice in East London and couldn’t wait to get back into the swing of things after a few days off…
We had some very loud and enthusiastic audience members who loved getting involved throughout the show, especially in the snow ball fight - our poor old Bookworm had to run for cover! And we even had our own special Christmas Elf who very kindly helped us pack away. She was definitely on Santa’s Nice List. One of my favourite parts about touring the country is getting to see lots of wonderful places along the way, and as we left Richard House we managed to catch the most beautiful sunset over London City Airport. The perfect ending to the day.
We were back on the road the next day to Haven House Hospice, hidden away in a beautiful woodland area in Woodford, Essex and we were lucky enough to perform our show for the day in the Sensory Play Room. We had five lovely children, who loved the show after a sleepy start, and witnessed some excellent dance moves from the carers!
And finally we had sadly come to the end of our Christmas tour with our final show at Little Haven Hospice, Essex – and we sure went out on a bang! What a fantastic audience! A whole room was filled to the brim with families who came to watch, and we had a fabulous time seeing everybody’s superb antler wiggling and can’t thank everybody enough for getting so involved. It was a really heart-warming show to end on seeing everyone’s faces lit up with Christmas spirit, and we even had an extra mini cast member who joined onstage for some of the performance and loved playing the drums.
Looking back on all seventeen shows, it has been an absolute joy to be able to bring smiles to children and their families at Christmas time. Hearing stories from parents who haven’t seen their children so animated in months, or are happy to just have some fun time together without having to worry is why we put on this show – we are so grateful to be even a tiny part of bringing some joy or relief to families. One thing that has really stuck with me throughout this experience is the incredible work done by carers and nurses day in day out – a special shout out to you all, you are all super heroes and are an absolute inspiration for the amazing work you do!
Christmas For Kids has been the most beautiful experience and I look back on every performance with a big smile on my face and a warm fuzzy heart. I am very sad to be saying goodbye to Benson and my team mates Matthew and Laura after the most amazing month, however I am happy to say that it won’t be for too long as we are all reuniting for the Rays of Sunshine Hospital Tour later in 2019.
Here’s to many more adventures and many more smiles!
Bethaney, and the rest of Team Benson xx