SATURDAY 18th May 2019
St Paul’s Churchyard, Covent Garden London
A great morning spent at The Annual Theatrical Flea Market in the grounds of The Actor’s Church- St Paul’s in Covent Garden. Hosted as always by Chris Biggins, this event raises a lot of money each year for “Acting For Others”, which encompasses several theatrical charities.
A long queue to get in to the courtyard, and absolutely packed within the walls- a great sight to see! Pearly Kings and Queens and stalls representing and manned by the cast members of several West End Shows from “The Mousetrap” to “Les Miserable” with “Book Of Mormon”, “Only Fools And Horses”,”Phantom” and “Hamilton” in between!
Michael Batchelor- in Garden Party Mode!
we were greeted at the gate by the immaculately attired and hugely jolly Michael Batchelor, representing the world of Pantomime. Lovely to see him- he was recently nominated in the Best Costumier awards in the Great British Panto Awards- and just like then, there was not enough time for a proper chat today- Our Dame was working her stockings off entertaining the crowds!
Andrew Ryan & me with Michael- A Trio of Turns!
There were competitions, raffles (I was handed my ticket by Michael Howe) and Guess the Mice in the Mousetrap Jar.. The “Mousetrap” stall was fronted by our mate Alan Magor, who plays Trotter at the St Martin’s Theatre, and Lynette Edwards who plays Mrs Boyle.
Denise Silvey who has a long association with the show, and husband and Graham Seed of “Archers” fame, were also manning the stall, as was Graham Fayne. Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen was helping out, and next door the plant stall was being manned by Haley Mills and Celia Imrie. Yes, I did buy a plant- it had to be done. And several raffle tickets!
Su Pollard- a medium (it says so on her knickers) and Adam Starr!
Great to bump into our Wolverhampton mate Adam Starr- here he is having his fortune told by today’s psychic Su.
Andrew Ryan and I went with our friend Isobel Hurll, former principal dancer at The Palladium, and we all had a great morning watching the charity auction, hosted by Chris Biggins, aided by Celia Imrie, Harriet Thorpe, Annette Badland, Tom Read Wilson and Wendi Peters. A lot of money was raised as the event drew to a close.
Great to see Designer Gregor Donnelly on the steps of the church, and to get a quick catch up. We had teaching rooms opposite each other at a NODA Summer School a while back, and have been mates ever since.
A Quick catch up with Chris B before the event closed- Chris of course hosted the GBPA at Wimbledon last month, and we’ll be meeting up again at the end of June for a theatrical event at The Hippodrome Birmingham. Can’t wait! Huge congratulations to everyone involved in raising money for the combined charities today. It really was a superb event!
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