More than 200 young dancers have helped raise almost £13,000 for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance after taking to the stage for a special series of performances in Andover.
Suzanne School of Dancing raised an impressive £12,790 for the life-saving charity through its production Life Before Google, staged at The Lights earlier this year.
Pupils aged from just four through to 25 were involved in the production, with six performances taking place across three days on February 20, 21 and 22.
The shows generated £11,500 in profits for the air ambulance, while audiences and supporters helped push the final fundraising total even higher.
A further £390 was donated through a Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance kiosk during the show weekend, while an unusual Champagne raffle added another £900 to the pot.
Together, the fundraising efforts brought the overall amount raised to £12,790.
The £11,500 generated directly from the performances was later formally presented to a representative of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.
The sizeable donation represents another example of Andover’s community groups using local events to support charities providing vital services across the region.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance provides an emergency medical response across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, bringing specialist critical care to patients when it is needed most.
For Suzanne School of Dancing, however, the occasion was about more than fundraising.
The school also marked the end of an extraordinary chapter as its longest-serving member of staff, Carol Johnson, retired from full-time teaching following more than half a century.
Her retirement brings to a close more than 50 years of full-time teaching, during which generations of local dancers have passed through the school.
Suzanne School of Dancing itself has an even longer history in the town.
Founded around 1947, it has been part of Andover’s performing arts community for almost eight decades, introducing generations of children and young people to dance.
That legacy is now being carried forward by three former pupils who returned to the school as qualified teachers and are today its co-owners.
The school’s teachers said: “Suzanne School of Dancing remains proud to be a longstanding part of the Andover community, continuing to nurture talent, inspire confidence and bring people together through the joy of dance.”
With more than 200 pupils involved in Life Before Google, the production showcased not only the school’s longevity but the scale of its current dance community.
The £12,790 raised also means those performances will leave a legacy beyond the stage, helping support the work of the air ambulance and its crews across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.