A BRAIN tumour charity is to benefit from a show put on by a Byfleet-based ballet school next week.

The event is a tribute to the husband of a teacher at Susan Robinson School of Ballet who died of brain cancer.

Kaleidoscope, at The Rhoda McGaw Theatre in Woking, will feature children aged three to 17 in support of The Brain Tumour Charity.

The show is dedicated to the memory of Tim Lewis, who had a diagnosis of glioblastoma brain tumour in November 2017 and died in March 2019, aged 53.

Tim’s wife Cathy has worked at the school for nearly 30 years. Founder Susan Robinson had agreed to put on the show in April 2020 but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Susan died later that year at the age of 73, after running the school for 45 years, but the show will go on.

The pupils will performing a variety of dances, including ballet, modern, tap and musical theatre numbers from Thursday 16 to Saturday 18 December.

The story of Hansel and Gretel, excerpts from the ballet La Bayadere and Shrek the Musical and dances involving Beatrix Potter characters are included.

Cathy Lewis, who now runs the school with Jade Souter and Lara Lucano, said The Brain Tumour Charity’s and long-term goal is for brain tumours to be successfully treated.

“Treatments haven’t changed much in 40 years and research into brain tumours is still very underfunded,” she added. “Only 3% of the money spent each year on cancer research in the UK is spent in brain tumours.”

As well as donating all proceeds of Kaleidoscope to The Brain Tumour Charity, the ballet school pupils and their parents have started to raise money for the charity by holding cakes sales, selling show T-shirts and raffles.

Tickets for the show can be booked at [email protected] or by calling 07572 784028.