Jimmy opens theatre charity shop
Jimmy Cricket has had the honour of officially opening a theatre’s new charity shop.
The Irish funnyman is a patron of the West Cliff Theatre in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, along with fellow comedian Roy Hudd.
Jimmy has a soft spot for the venue, having done a couple of summer seasons there in the last five years, and so put on a show there recently as a fundraiser.
The theatre has lately had its council grant withdrawn, but benefited by approximately £1,000 from Jimmy’s show.
Jimmy said: “This was not the end of the story though.
“West Cliff Theatre decided to open a second-hand charity shop as part of its fundraising drive, along the lines of the usual ones associated with British Heart Foundation, Scope et al – there are a fair few of these in Rochdale.
“So I marked my latest visit to the town with a double strike: not just the show, but I was invited to officially open the theatre’s new charity shop. I duly performed the honours during the lunch hour and then performed at the theatre in the evening!
“Hopefully, my contribution to the two events will have helped in some small way to keeping the theatre going.”
Jimmy added: “I would like to pay tribute to the outgoing theatre manager, Mike Bareham, for all his hard work over the years. His commitment and dedication to the theatre have been magnificent.
“The new theatre manager is Andy Jeffrey who I have known for quite some time.
“This is because Andy worked at the Weston-super-Mare Playhouse when I did their pantomime a few years ago. Andy is about to take over the reins very shortly and this is an exciting new chapter for the theatre.
“He is steeped in theatrical know-how and already has some fresh ideas and new thinking as the theatre enters a phase where it will have to be more self-reliant in the future.”