AN eagerly anticipated pantomime production by a charity for adults with learning difficulties was nearly derailed – until a nightclub came to the rescue at the eleventh hour.

Northdale Horticulture’s annual pantomimes are a fun annual event for trainees with the charity and their families. But this year’s production, Peter Pansy, had some added drama.

The Northallerton-based organisation offers employment opportunities and work-based training to adults with learning disabilities.

A week before their show opened it was discovered the venue wasn’t suitable as the stage they had booked was on several levels and there was a risk the actors could fall.

Pantomime director Jane Corbett said that with many tickets sold, the audience was too large to be accommodated back at Northdale.

But luckily local businessman Tyrone Crow came to the rescue with his offer of an unusual venue for a pantomime.

Mr Crow works with his family running the Golden Lion and Club Amadeus in Northallerton. He offered the charity the use of his nightclub for the duration of the pantomime, along with its sounds and lighting.

Mr Crow and several of his staff members even carried about 150 chairs from the Golden Lion across the town to Club Amadeus and then filled the dance floor with them.

“It really was a case of the show must go on”, said Jane Corbett, the pantomime director. “It was just where to hold it, and time was fast running out. Tyrone could not have been more helpful and Northdale is eternally grateful for all his help and generosity. He was a modern day Prince Charming.”

She said the venue proved “perfect”.

It isn’t the first time Northdale Horticulture has had to stage a show in an unusual venue.

Last year they put on a production of the musical Grease Paint in one of their nursery’s polytunnels, when unexpectedly cold weather looked set to threaten their first ever outdoor summer shows.

Tyrone Crow said: “They just asked if we could help. I showed them round the nightclub and it was fine. We have a stage and lighting and sound and they could use all that as well.”

Brompton Players then loaned the costumes to the cast and Northallerton Rotary Club helped on and off the stage and with a financial donation. The production raised a total of about £1,400.