Warwick primary school pupil raises more than £1,000 for Myton Hospice

Ethan Flint, who attends Newburgh Primary School, is one of Myton Hospices’ youngest supporters.

After Myton Community Fundraiser Anita Burrows spoke at to pupils at the school about the charity, Ethan was inspired to raise money to help people who use Myton’s various services.

On Friday June 2, Ethan, his four year-old sister, Emily, and their friends put on a performance of The Wizard of Oz at The Playbox Theatre for their families and friends.

The youngster took on the role of the Tin Man and was also helped by his four year-old sister, Emily, who played Toto. The show also featured musical numbers ‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’ and ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’.

Ethan, Emily and their mum Caroline spent their half term holiday putting the finishing touches to everyone’s costumes and creating the backdrop for the show.

On the day of the show the cast – including some of Ethan’s family members and two members of Playbox – came together to rehearse before their audience arrived.

Ethan said: “A lady came into my school and talked about it. She told us a bit about what it is. I wanted to help because that’s a nice thing to do when you care about other people. I invited my headmaster from school to come and watch!

“Rehearsals were really good and the show was too. I had to sing, act and say lines – I remembered everything luckily! I liked it all; I can’t choose a favourite bit. My head teacher had a good time and won a raffle prize too.

“I wanted to raise £500 and I’m really proud of myself for raising more. We’re thinking about doing Alice in Wonderland soon.”

Caroline Flint, Ethan’s mum, added: “Ethan was inspired by an assembly at school about the work of Myton Hospice in Warwick.

“He came home that afternoon determined to organise a fundraising event to raise money to help the hospice.

“He quickly decided he wanted to put on a show and was soon hatching a plan to stage The Wizard of Oz. He put a great deal of work into his project, including casting the show, planning costumes and making invitations.

“He also decided he wanted to hold a raffle on the day of the performance as part of his fundraising efforts. We are thrilled that local businesses got behind him on that and donated prizes, including tickets for Jump-In, Hatton Country World, Ten Pin Bowling and Warwick Castle. And Playbox were very kind to let us use one of their performance spaces for free.

“We probably could have done two performances with all the people who wanted to watch the show! We were in dress rehearsals right up until about two minutes before the show! They did so well remembering their lines and the songs.

“About ten minutes after The Wizard of Oz finished Ethan started planning the next one! He’s already casting it and lots of people want to be involved.”