Thorpe Players, a local amateur dramatics group, recently ran a charity concert night to raise money for local charities, one being the Norfolk Renal Fund.

 

They were successful in raising £1,000.

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Thorpe Players is a community-based theatre group that has been in residence at Roxley Hall, Thorpe St. Andrew for over 50 years. Several members of this group have been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease or breast cancer, therefore the decision was made to raise money and split the profits between Norfolk Renal Fund and The Boudica Breast Cancer unit at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

 

Dave, who has chronic kidney disease and has haemodialysis three times a week at Bowthorpe, Norwich, was involved in this event and has kindly shared his story: 

 

“One of my passions since primary school was performing on stage mainly in school productions, but also some television work. I have worked on shows such as Byker Grove, Catherine Cookson films and more recently Stephen Fry’s Norfolk detective programme called Kingdom.

 

Having been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), my biggest concern was whether or not I would be able to carry on doing drama to the extent I was. I had a real fear that this CKD would rob me of something I love doing through tiredness and exhaustion. Fortunately for me, the dialysis treatment has allowed me to get back to doing drama, performing in several plays since starting treatment. I am now looking forward to performing in another musical in February 2024 and making my directing debut for an Agatha Christie play.

 

In February this year, I was approached by the leaders of Thorpe Players to see if I would consider being part of a charity concert. The aim would be to run a night of “Music from the Movies”, for one night only, with the purpose of raising money for local charities. So, on Friday July 28th we sang a wide range of song from Movies to a full house. It was a privilege for me to sing solo songs from Dear Evan Hansen and Les Misérables. We finished the evening with audience participation singing along to all the favourites from the Sound of Music. It was such fun night enjoyed by everyone.”

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