Friends who ditched jobs for panto raise £13k for charity

A GROUP of friends took a break from their day jobs to develop tongue-in-cheek panto Clatty Bella that raised nearly £13,000 for Beatson Cancer Charity and Yorkhill Children's Charity.
Monica Nesbit, and Damian Mullen in character with Amy Dreszler from Beatson and Aileen McConnell from Yorkhill collect there cheques.Monica Nesbit, and Damian Mullen in character with Amy Dreszler from Beatson and Aileen McConnell from Yorkhill collect there cheques.
Monica Nesbit, and Damian Mullen in character with Amy Dreszler from Beatson and Aileen McConnell from Yorkhill collect there cheques.

The cast of entrepreneurs, lawyers, teachers and doctors took a leap outside their comfort zone to raise vital funds for the charities, not realising how successful their Glaswegian take on Cinderella would be.

Jeremy Hart, one of the team behind the panto, said: “We’re overwhelmed by the success of Clatty Bella. This started off as a group of friends hoping to raise a couple of thousand pound for charity, little did we know how much the people of Glasgow would love our production. We were hoping with a bit of luck to raise £10,000, so to accumulate nearly £13,000 is incredible.

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“It was hard work; we were perfecting the performance for nine months, meeting once a week to rehearse. The long days and nights were all worthwhile in the end. This was a new experience for most of us and we’ve had a lot of fun along the way. I’d like to thank everyone who donated to these two amazing charities – both are very close to our hearts. We hope this helps make a difference to many patients and their families lives.”

Actors Monica Nesbit, and Damian Mullen, with Amy Dreszler from Beatson and Aileen McConnell from Yorkhill collect there cheques.Actors Monica Nesbit, and Damian Mullen, with Amy Dreszler from Beatson and Aileen McConnell from Yorkhill collect there cheques.
Actors Monica Nesbit, and Damian Mullen, with Amy Dreszler from Beatson and Aileen McConnell from Yorkhill collect there cheques.

The production took place at Maryhill Community Central Hall and featured professional actress Fiona Wood as Clatty Bella with former Take the High Road star Carol Hunter a key member of the production team.

The scriptwriter Damian Mullen, a new graduate, has secured a scholarship with Warner Brothers and will be moving London later this year to begin his career.

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Amy Dreszler, fundraiser at Beatson Cancer Charity, said: “Congratulations to the team for their successful production of Clatty Bella. It’s evident they put their hearts and souls into the performance which proved to be a huge hit with families across Glasgow. We’d like to thank everyone involved for their support of Beatson Cancer Charity, the funds will help support the 8,000 new patients who attend The Beatson and its related facilities each year.”

Actors Monica Nesbit, and Damian Mullen, with Amy Dreszler from Beatson and Aileen McConnell from Yorkhill collect there cheques.Actors Monica Nesbit, and Damian Mullen, with Amy Dreszler from Beatson and Aileen McConnell from Yorkhill collect there cheques.
Actors Monica Nesbit, and Damian Mullen, with Amy Dreszler from Beatson and Aileen McConnell from Yorkhill collect there cheques.

Kirsten Sinclair, director of fundraiser at Yorkhill Children’s Charity, said: “We are incredibly grateful for the wonderful support from the cast and crew at Clatty Bella. This very generous donation will help us to deliver the best possible care to the 160,000 babies, children and young people treated every year at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, so we’d like to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone for their generosity.”

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