STAFF from Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust wowed the audience and managed to raise over £4,500 for charity at the annual hospital pantomime.

Crowd members who were lucky enough to get tickets to the sold out performance at the Haymarket were in for a treat as staff from Basingstoke hospital , Andover War Memorial Hospital and Royal Hampshire County Hospital performed an exciting re-telling of the classic fairy-tale Jack and the Beanstalk.

The pantomime, named Jack and the Basingstalk, featured a variety of staff in a range of vibrant and elaborated costumes.

Roles in the performance, were open to everyone working at Hampshire Hospitals, with casual auditions held last September and weekly rehearsals to ensure everything went to plan.

It was a massive success, with tickets selling out in advance and a grand total of £4,574.32 being raised from ticket sales and collection buckets. The money raised will be split and donated to the North Hampshire Medical Fund, The Pink Place and the Ark Cancer Centre Charity.

Some of the money from the collection buckets will also be going to Carl Potts, who is running the London Marathon to raise money for St John’s Ambulance.

Sharon Watson, who helped organise the pantomime and played Daisy the Cow, said: “I want to say a massive thank you to all the cast who gave up their time over the weekends to make sure we put on the best show we could.

“Everything went really well on the day and we put on such a great show. Everyone had such a good time performing and the crowd were amazing.

“I’d also like to say thank you to everyone who bought tickets, came to see us and donated money.”

To find out more about the two charities the panto was raising money for visit arkcancercharity.org.uk and .thepinkplace.org.uk.