Charity

Announcing Nunsense’s chosen charity – London Air Ambulance

Charity, Nunsense, Pastiche News,

With 30 days to go until our production of Nunsense: The Mega Musical opens at The Compass Theatre, we at Pastiche are very proud to announce that our chosen charity for this production is London’s Air Ambulance.

Founded in 1989, the aim of the charity is to save more lives in the London area (within the M25) through providing rapid and cutting-edge medical care to those who need it most, be it a fall from height, knife or gunshot wounds or incidents on the roads or our public transport systems.

The London Air Ambulance are able to perform open heart surgery, blood transfusions, give general anaesthetic and carry out life saving procedures in situ, meaning their actions save lives.

The Air Ambulance almost solely rely on donations to keep the service running for the 10 million people they serve – having to raise upwards of £8 million a year to be able to do so.

We were proud and honoured to visit the Air Ambulance at their Central London base recently, meeting members of the team and going up to (the very windy) 17th floor roof of a London hospital to see the Air Ambulance for ourselves and learn more about how the charity works and operates.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that all of us who went were extremely humbled to meet the heroes (a word they don’t like to use themselves) who run this vital service and to find out more about this wonderful charity.

We hope to raise as much money as we can to support this service – you can help us do so by making sure you book to see Nunsense!

Pastiche enter two week countdown to a Musical Masterpiece

Charity, Musical Masterpiece, Pastiche News, Shows

Pastiche are beavering away on their upcoming production of Musical Masterpiece, which opens to the public in two weeks time (Thursday 4th October) at the Compass Theatre.

Featuring songs from famous shows and films, Musical Masterpiece features something for everything including a tribute to Musical Theatre giant Andrew Lloyd-Webber as he celebrates his 70th birthday later this year. They are also collaborating with some great online mixing services to produce a piece for the epic final act.

As always, Pastiche will be raising money for a worthy cause with our production. This time we will be donating to Meadow High School based in Hillingdon.

Meadow High School is a very large Secondary Special School that caters for pupils with complex learning needs. The school was built in 1966 for 90 pupils and 30 staff but over the years has grown to house 240 pupils and 120 staff. The school is about to have a significant rebuild to bring it up to modern specification. The money raised by Pastiche will be used to purchase equipment which cannot currently be accommodated in the old building.

Meadow is a second home to Pastiche as they very kindly provide us with rehearsal space. We are thrilled to be raising funds for this wonderful school.

Tickets are on sale now either through our own website or through the Compass Theatre Box Office

Pastiche donate almost £600 from Wild, Wild Women

Charity, Pastiche News, Shows

A cheque for £595.56 was presented by Olivia Holburd, Director of Pastiche Musical Theatre to Relate North West London. The money was raised by audiences of our recent production of Wild, Wild Women at the Compass Theatre at the end of March 2018.

Relate are delighted with the funds raised by Pastiche and offered a heartfelt ‘Thank You’ from everyone at Relate.

The amount raised during Wild, Wild Women now takes the total amount raised by Pastiche to over £57,000! We now hope to break the £58,000 barrier with our upcoming production of Musical Masterpiece at the Compass Theatre in October 2018.

Pastiche donate over £600 from Musical Milestones

Charity, Pastiche News

A cheque for £633.94 was presented by Olivia Holburd, Director of Pastiche Musical Theatre to Becky Haggar, co-founder of the Hillingdon Brain Tumour and Injury Group. The money was raised during the annual Pastiche Summer Concert ‘Musical Milestones’ held at the Compass Theatre in September 2017.

Becky was delighted with the funds raised by Pastiche and offered a heartfelt ‘Thank You’ from everyone at the Hillingdon Brain Tumour and Injury Group.

Formed in 2009, the charity’s aims are to provide active support to anyone in the Hillingdon and surrounding areas affected by any type of brain tumour or brain injury. They do this by seeking to help patients, carers, friends and family live as full a life as possible, with the best quality of life.  The charity also raises awareness in the local medical and general community of the symptoms and effects of brain tumours.

The charity takes pride in offering a unique, life-improving post-operative package for all of their members – including access to neuropsychologists, complementary therapists and all the assistance and advice they need.

The amount raised during Musical Milestones is the highest amount raised during a Summer Concert since 2010, which tops off a remarkable year for Pastiche. Both this show and ‘Hello, Dolly!’ have raised just short of £2000 for two local charities during our twentieth anniversary year.

40 days until the first performance of Hello, Dolly!

Charity, Hello Dolly, Pastiche News, Shows

With now just 40 days until Pastiche Musical Theatre’s first performance of Hello, Dolly! – we thought we would tell you a little bit more about our chosen charity who will benefit from our production, the wonderful Michael Sobell Hospice in Northwood.

Hello, Dolly is Pastiche’s 40th production and celebrates Pastiche’s 20th birthday. By wonderful coincidence, the Michael Sobell Hospice is celebrating it’s 40th birthday.

Our production will be raising funds for the Parent and Family Support team based at the hospice. This fundraising compliments the fundraising the hospice are doing whilst marking their 40th anniversary.

The patient and family support team helps with psychological and social difficulties, and is made up of a social work team manager, four part time palliative care counsellors, a creative therapies art leader and twelve bereavement counsellors.

Over the years, the hospice and it’s wonderful team of staff have helped thousands of families in the local area come to terms with the end of loved ones lives.

One such family is that of our Musical Director, Dan. In 2011, he and his family lost his Grandfather after a battle with cancer. As Dan says:

I am incredibly proud that our production of Hello, Dolly will be raising money for this amazing hospice to ensure that other families and loved ones receive the same care, compassion and support that my family received when we needed it most.

My Grandad went to Michael Sobell for the last few weeks of his life having been cared for at home. Understandably, this was a sad, distressing and difficult time for the whole family. It was extremely difficult for my grandmother and also for my father and aunts as we prepared to say goodbye to a much loved husband, father and grandfather.

The staff at the hospice were just sensational. During the last days of grandad’s life, they gave him the very best care to ensure that his passing was dignified, peaceful and most importantly, the way in which he wished it to eventually happen.

As well as supporting Grandad during his final days, the staff and the hospice were equally supportive of my family as they prepared to say goodbye to Grandad and immediately after we lost him. I know just how much my Dad valued their support and care and to this day remains so incredibly grateful to them for everything they did.

Losing a member of your family is one of the toughest things you ever face. The staff at Michael Sobell went above and beyond the call of duty to look after and support not just Grandad, but all of his family during this incredibly sad time in our lives.

Pastiche are thrilled to be raising money for such a worthy organisation. Tickets are on sale now for our production both at The Compass Theatre’s Box Office and through our own Box Office.

Happy 20th Birthday Pastiche!

Charity, Pastiche News, Shows

On this date in 1997, Pastiche Musical Theatre gave it’s very first public performance at The Compass Theatre when the first performance of The Boyfriend was staged.

Since then, Pastiche has gone from strength to strength and has raised over £50,000 for local and national charities and organisations.

We’re very proud to be entering our third decade and would like to thank our cast both past and present (some of which have performed with us for the whole of our twenty years), our stage crews past and present and our wonderful audiences who have supported us.

We’ll be celebrating our 20th birthday with our production of Hello Dolly which will be staged at The Compass Theatre between 29th March and 1st April.

Happy Birthday Pastiche!!

Pastiche Musical Theatre charity donation to Hillingdon Mind

Charity

img_0055A cheque for £536.85 was presented by Olivia Holburd, Director of Pastiche Musical Theatre to Christopher Geake, Director of Hillingdon Mind on Thursday 24th November 2016 at one of Hillingdon Mind’s peer support groups – the Creative Arts Group. The money was raised during the annual Pastiche Summer Concert ‘Musical Melodies’ held at the Compass Theatre, Ickenham in September 2016.

Christopher Geake was delighted with the huge donation raised by Pastiche and offered a heartfelt ‘Thank You’ from himself and all the staff and patrons of Hillingdon Mind in Uxbridge. The donation will be used for a new Young Persons’ initiative, which will involve mentoring and befriending young people from all over Hillingdon who need individual support and assistance for a range of mental health and emotional issues. The large sum raised means that the service will benefit many more young people who will be able to have the support they need to deal with personal issues and move forward with their lives.