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A bench has been placed in Kettering General Hospital’s grounds in memory of hospital pantomime cast members who have died.

The hospital’s annual staff pantomime has been running for 21 years and has raised more than £42,000 for patient care.

The cast – known as the Trust Timewarpers (after the song) – wanted to do something to recognise the contribution of staff who have taken part in the annual event, especially those who are no longer with us.

Trust Timewarpers Director, Katrina Rufeea, said: “A number of our cast members have died over the last 21 years and I want to make a particular mention of Joan Carnell and Colin Iversen who both made immense contributions to the pantomime.

“Joan was an incredible singer and supported all of our pantomimes from the very start until her death in 2018.

“Colin supported the pantomime when he joined the Trust in 2003 as our Tissue Viability Nurse until his death in 2018 and put on some amazing, and very funny, performances.

“They were both very well respected and popular members of the cast and did so much to make the pantomimes a great success.

“Considering how much the pantomime has raised to help patients we thought a memorial bench – which also helps patients – would be a fitting tribute to all of the cast members we have lost.”

Colin Iversen’s widow, Wendy, cut the ribbon to mark the placement of the new bench in the hospital’s grounds.

Money from the last two pantomimes – Zimmerella in 2018 and Onto the Wards in 2019 – has gone towards buying rehabilitation chairs for the Intensive Care Unit and to the KGH Twinkling Stars bereavement suite appeal.

The pantomimes are one of the highlights of the hospital year and the cast develop outlandish plots related to current practices, wards and departments, managers and senior medical staff, loosely based around an actual pantomime theme.

There is a lot of singing and dancing – and interactions with the audience - with senior members of hospital staff invited up on stage for some of the songs.

The event is probably one of the last surviving hospital pantomimes in the NHS and is a major joint effort involving band, lighting, back stage and front of house teams in place alongside the extensive cast and narrator.

Staff, in their own time, spend months in rehearsing and then have a technical run with sound and lights, followed by a dress rehearsal in costume and make-up. Finally they produce three consecutive nightly shows which are always very well attended and raise money for patient care.

History of the KGH Panto

• In the early days of the NHS hospital pantomimes were quite a common way of celebrating the run-up to the festive season – but the tradition had largely died out by the 1970s and 80s.

• In 1998 to celebrate 50 years of the NHS a group of interested KGH staff decided to revive the tradition at the hospital and put on its first pantomime for many years.

• Rose Patrick, a nursing sister at KGH, was the person behind the idea and she quickly recruited Katrina Rufeea as choreographer and Robin Maxted as Musical Director along with 15 other members of staff.

• These included Kathy Italiano, Helen Neal, Joan Carnell, Debra Smith, Linda Lilley, Dr Owen Davison, Eric Nixon, Fiona Barber, June Willis, Kay Fox, Pat Tillin, Rebecca Webster, Kim Mellon, Lesley Croft and Spencer

• This was supposed to be a one-off performance but was such a huge success that the group decided to continue the following year until it became a regular annual event with Katrina taking over the helm as writer, director and choreographer, Andrew Phillips as musical director and Joan Carnell as singing coach.

• The longest serving members have been Katrina Rufeea, Helen Neal, Kathy Italiano and Joan Carnell – who sadly passed away in 2018
• Over the years the panto has made donations to a wide variety of projects including a new birthing pool, a children’s sensory room on Skylark Ward, disposable blood pressure cuffs for A&E and the Centenary Wing, sensory communication equipment for ITU, ice machines and fans for the wards, play stations for incapacitated teenagers, specialised cutlery for stroke patients, equipment for the new Cardiac Centre, comfy armchairs for expectant mums and their partners and have helped revive the KGH Recreational Hall with new flooring, new curtains and a new stage. They have also supported Cransley Hospice in its care and treatment of cancer patients and our local Air Ambulance.