Hello, you lovely lot! This is my first year with Christmas for Kids and it has been so much fun. Especially with the fabulous Bethaney and Adam, who make up the rest of Team Benson!
We were the only team back on the road after Christmas this year, and were continuing to travel through south London and the south of England. We had a lovely rest over Christmas where we all ate way too many Yorkshire puddings, copious amounts of chocolate and ALL the cheese, so it was unsurprising that even though we were eager to get back, we all felt a little bit heavier!
Our first show back was at the lovely Little Haven Hospice; we were given such a warm welcome by the staff. They even have a beautiful Nutcracker Grandfather clock in the main reception (which I forgot to take a photo of!) so our Nutcracker (Adam) felt right at home. We performed to lots of families that day, who were all up for helping Harry find his pal Christmas Spirit. I puppeteer Harry, and he made friends with one little boy called Bailey, who found Harry’s impressions of the fart slime we handed out particularly funny!
The following day we had a lot of fun performing in the wonderful sensory room at Haven House Hospice, where we got to warm up with their projection wall. They even have a magic carpet! We had a great audience of four, which meant we could take lots of time over the sensory moments. One little girl loved the bells so much she was our champion bell ringer for the show and helped Harry find his friend.
Our last show of 2019 was at the Richard House Hospice in London. We started with just one audience member, the delightful Hope, who came whizzing into the room very excited for our show. However, as the show went on more and more families joined us, so by the end of the show we had a full house. Just in time for the chestnut fight!
Finally we arrived at our last venue of the tour, Ellenor Lyons in Gravesend. We had such a lovely audience of families who were all up for getting involved with the show, especially Sam - a volunteer at the Hospice - who stepped in to be our Santa. The team at Ellenor Lyons even gave us a beautiful homemade card and a scrummy bit of cake, which made the end of our 2019 tour with Christmas for Kids all the sweeter!
Roisin Keogh