A group from The Sunnybank Trust recently had the opportunity to attend the press night for Awful Auntie, an adaptation of the David Walliams Book, at Woking’s New Victoria Theatre.

Two of our Sunnybank partners previously interviewed Neal Foster, who is the director and also stars as Aunt Alberta in the show. Neal gave our Sunnybank partners advice ahead of our own production of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, which I wrote about last week. Neal’s advice was to make sure they had learnt their lines, something I know I would find hard. I had a small role in a local panto many years ago and even those few lines were hard to remember.

Awful Auntie tells the story of Stella Saxby (Annie Cordoni), a very rich girl whose parents have died in a car accident and whose Aunt Alberta launches a plot to cheat her out of her inheritance. The play is set in December 1933.

The show is on tour and will be coming to Wimbledon Theatre later in the year. I particularly enjoyed  the character of Gibbon the Butler, played by Zain Abrahams. I found his character and antics absolutely hilarious.

Alex,  who was part of our Sunnybank group, wrote a blog which you can read on www.sunnybanktrust.org. It was Alex’s first visit to The New Victoria Theatre and his first trip to the theatre since the pandemic.  Here are his thoughts:

“I really enjoyed my time there and everyone else did as well. The play is full of laughs and unpredictable moments, which add to the play's humour. I am sure David Walliams himself would be proud of the production.”

We enjoyed being there as part of press night , enjoying the VIP experience  and all of us gave the show 10 out of 10.

Thanks to everybody at the theatre for setting this up and making us feel so welcome.

On Monday July 22,  on the Sunny Sessions at Surrey Hills Community Radio from 10am,  you can hear our reporter Shay speaking to Anna Moore, the skydiving vicar of St Matthews Church in Redhill.

Anna jumped out of a plane earlier this year to raise money and awareness of the cost of  keeping the church building running. This figure can be eye watering, particularly for older church buildings which need maintenance. It was very interesting to hear how Anna did the skydive despite her fear of heights and she told Shay that it’s probably something she won’t be repeating in a hurry.

Listen to the Sunny Sessions, the inclusive radio show from The Sunnybank Trust on Surrey Hills Community Radio Monday and Thursday at 10am and  on demand at www.sunnybanktrust.org/sunny-sessions.

Sunny Sessions is also on Radio Woking every Wednesday at 9am.

My other Radio Woking shows are Wednesday breakfast 7am to 9am and Sunday 9am to noon.

You can reach me on email [email protected].