Bloggers are signing up for The Great Panto Review 2009 which will benefit NACCPO – The National Alliance of Childhood Cancer Parents’ Organisations.
Leading theatres in England, Scotland and Wales have agreed to give bloggers access so their reviews can spread ‘word of mouth’ throughout the blogospshere.
Cardiff’s New Theatre where John Barrowman is appearing as Robin Hood and the Birmingham Hippodrome where Ray Quinn and Joe Pasquale will star in Sleeping Beauty were among the first to pledge to welcome the bloggers and back the charity effort.
Reports will be featured at http://www.havealovelytime.com which is an “umbrella” family travel and activities site featuring reports from top UK parent bloggers.
Writers taking part will be asked to donate to NACCPO, while readers will also be asked to give generously.
Panto reviews will also be published on the bloggers’ own sites as well as being promoted through social media platforms such as facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon and Digg.
Contributors, many of whom are also members at www.britishmummybloggers.co.uk, are currently contacting more theatres large and small to request review tickets or places at panto media previews.
http://www.havealovelytime.com editor and mum of two Linda Jones said she came up with the idea after being approached by several large corporations including Disney and Ford to write about their products and wanted to harness the resulting ‘word of mouth’ to do something positive at Christmas time.
She said: “It has been very exciting to see how well this has taken off so far. The bloggers and their families who are reviewing the shows are over the moon and we have had nothing but positive feedback from theatres approached.
“The idea was inspired by the fact that my family loved John Barrowman at the Birmingham Hippodrome last year and as Aladdin the year before,” said Linda who is a director at the Midlands agency Passionate Media.
“I wanted to be able to share that laughter with other bloggers, as well as promoting the Great British panto and raising money for a wonderful charity.
“NACCPO fundraiser Rachael Olley has contributed to Have a Lovely Time so I was well aware of the work they do. As the site is all about having fun, especially on holiday and NACCPO help families with short breaks, we wanted to do something to help.”
Susanna Scott, who founded http://www.britishmummybloggers.co.uk added: “I hope that in a year when some families will be weighing up whether they can afford to go and see a panto, our reports will help give the Great British panto a shot in the arm.
“We have more than 600 members, who each have a loyal audience of anything from dozens to hundreds of thousands of readers, so the potential audience is huge.”
NACCPO fundraiser Rachael Olley added: “To see the star names in productions already backing this campaign is great for us. We rely on fundraising and applaud the bloggers for their innovative way of bringing in money which will be used to support children with cancer.”
“We are entirely dependant on fundraising to continue our services – we do not receive any government or statutory funding so every penny is gratefully received.
“The National Alliance of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisations is made up of parent run organisations that have common aims of working together to support children and young adults with cancer.”