Pantomime star David Spinx ‘arrested’ for Charity
On Thursday (8 December), two Bromley business people and a panto star were ‘arrested’ as part of a special ‘Jail n’ Bail’ fundraising initiative to raise money for Harris HospisCare. This event has taken place each year since 2005 in conjunction with Police Officers from the Bickley Safer Neighbourhood Team and the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, raising over £43,000 for the hospice.
Each ‘felon’ is arrested in their place of work and a charge is accused. Once in handcuffs the ‘felons’ are taken away in the police van and are not released until they have raised their ‘bail’ money.
The first ‘felon’ arrested was Lisa Davis at Harris HospisCare in front of astonished patients and volunteers. Second was a visit to Barclays Bank, Petts Wood, to arrest branch manager Martin Hennessey. Martin said: ‘We have been encouraging customers to contribute to my ‘bail’ money for the past two weeks and Barclays will double the total raised. Many have been very generous as it is for a fantastic local charity.’
Finally David Spinx was ‘arrested’ at the Churchill Theatre Bromley for the ‘attempted murder’ of Snow White. PC Stuart Manuel stormed the stage at the end of the performance to make the ‘arrest’ in front of the baffled audience. As he was led away in handcuffs the crowd cheered and was encouraged to donate generously to enable his release.
PC Stuart Manuel, of the Bickley Safer Neighbourhood Team, who was an integral part of the day’s success, said: “We had a great day yet again. It was a pleasure to make the arrests knowing that the charity will be receiving much needed funds towards patient care in Bromley.’
Christine Davies, Fundraising Manager at Harris HospisCare added “We have raised over £43,000 from the event since its start in 2005, which is the equivalent of funding a specialist home care nurse for more than a year. All monies raised will go towards helping Harris HospisCare to fund its services for terminally ill patients live in Bromley, their families and carers.”
