How brother and sister brought dazzling panto fun to Fleetwood care home

Andrew Snape and Helen Waite enthralled residents at Fleetwood Hall Care Home with their unique version of Cinderella - oh yes they did!

Andrew, 45 who wrote the script, and 56 year old Helen are the activity coordinators for the home, on Chatsworth Avenue.

The cast of fifteen included staff from the home and a number of residents, including Susan Szemaraj, 72 , who played Cinderella’s father, and Fred Cartmell, 91 and Sheila Aspden, 80, who were both Ugly Sisters.

All the residents of the home joined in singing carols.

Helen, who has worked at the home for nearly three years and has a background in care as well as being a talented seamstress, said: “It was a fantastic day and lovely that everyone in the home was involved.

“I love working with my brother Andrew - he is very musical and I’m creative so we make a good team.

“Our mum developed Alzheimer’s when she was only 55 and we have a lot of empathy for people in care.”

Andrew, who has also worked in care for a number of years as well as being a primary school teacher, said: “I’ve been writing my own scripts for a number of years.

"I took the outline of the classic Cinderella story and gave it a unique Fleetwood Hall Care Home twist.

“We invited everyone in the home to take part and a number of residents and staff signed up for roles in the play. It was a really special day and everyone felt very jolly.

"The whole event was filmed too so the families of residents can watch it.”

Joanne Warren, registered manager of Fleetwood Hall, said: “I’d like to thank all our staff and lovely residents who took part in the play and made it such a special occasion.

“I think we’re pretty unique as a home in having a brother and sister as our activity coordinators.

"Helen and Andrew went to great effort to write and direct the panto, sort all the costumes and allocate roles to everyone who wanted to take part.”

Fleetwood Hall Care Home specialises in residential and dementia care and is part of the Sandstone Care group of homes.