As a Northern Ginger, I welcome December with open arms! Not only is the weather a bearable temperature for me, but I have found the most exciting moments seem to happen in this month of the year. 2019 has brought me to the amazing Christmas For Kids and I am over the moon to share just a slice of Team Benson’s C4K journey so far...
After a well needed day off at the start of our week, we had a great show to begin Week 3. Unfortunately, we were missing our Harry/Team Leader, Roisin, for this show. However, our Harry for the day came in the form of Team Maurice's Laura (a former Team Benson-er) who kindly gave up her day off to help us out. It was so fun to work with her (and a tad disorientating using Team Maurice’s set - very similar yet slightly different!). The Milestone Academy team were very welcoming and we played an intimate performance for two kids who were extremely responsive and entertained.
Show two of the week was at our second Shooting Star Hospice, this time in Hampton. Vicki and the SSH team were so welcoming and their Christmas Party was a huge success - we even had the pleasure of meeting Santa! We all fell in love with their amazing ceiling decorations and Christmas tree competition entries.
Show three was another intimate show at UCLH (University College London Hospital), and the superstar mums watching made our day by being great sports! From the window, you had a spectacular view of the city and we were quick to show everyone on Instagram our fabulous view at work. Similar to Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital (which we played during our first week of shows), we went around to the individual rooms to cheer up some kids who were too poorly to come to the playroom for our performance.
The next day, we headed to Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice in Maidenhead for our penultimate two-show day. The venue was absolutely ‘divine’ and we even had our own Green Room and a food spread waiting for us. I was living my best Mariah Carey life! The stage area actually felt like a living room and Harry was completely enchanted with their Christmas Tree.
The last show of the week was in picturesque Arundel. It was the furthest we had travelled but with the ‘Hamilton’ soundtrack on in the car it felt like a matter of minutes. We had such a great response from the Chestnut Tree Hospice audience and staff alike, who presented us with a card and asked us to stay for carols and Mince Pies after the show.
Overall, a great week and with only one more (double show) day left before Christmas, we were feeling more and more festive with every show!