Children's charity to benefit from Bob Stott DVD

THE Children's Heart Unit Fund (CHUF) will benefit from the sales of a comedy DVD starring North-East panto legend Bob Stott.

Bob, from South Shields, who is currently appearing as a dame in the Tyne Theatre's Beauty and the Beast, was asked to do a Laffalang show to celebrate his 60-year career. Bob, 70, agreed if the profits went to CHUF, at the Freeman Hospital, where his youngest grandson underwent life-saving treatment.

Bob played the much-loved, outrageous dame in the Customs House pantomime for many years. His talents also includes being a member of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, an actor, a compere and more recently the star of the popular Laffalang.

"I hosted two Laffalang shows for this initiative at the Westovian Theatre in South Shields and Von Fox Promotions have produced a fantastic DVD. I'm absolutely delighted with it. There is stand-up, some cracking sketches, and funny reminiscences from treading the boards since I started as a ten-year-old in a sketch troupe at West Harton Methodist Church, in South Shields, in 1956," he says.

"The buzz while performing and making people laugh is fantastic. There's not a better feeling than when people leave the theatre with a smile on their face, having had had a good time."

The DVD also features comedy superstar Bobby Pattinson and the Laffalang Gang.

* Bob Stott: Widow Twankey at 70 is out now, £10. Available from the Visitor Information Centre at The Word, Market Square, South Shields. Telephone: 0191-424-7788.

Viv Hardwick