Comedian Chris Stokes to play charity show for Great Wyrley nursery

The up-and-coming comic, currently touring with celebrated funnyman Milton Jones, has helped organise a charity show in Cannock in aid of a Great Wyrley nursery.

He was recruited by mother-of-two Gemma Meers, a volunteer on the committee for the Holly Lane nursery which has been forced to scrap a lot of its outdoor playing equipment.

The charity is now desperately trying to raise enough cash for a new ‘soft ground’ to replace the old one which Ofsted no longer considered safe.

Gemma got in touch with Chris and he has signed up some of his comedy pals for a charity show at the Prince of Wales Centre on October 8.

Taking to the stage with Chris will be comedy magician Pete Firman and star of ITV’s Saturday Night at the Palladium, The Next Great Magician, BBC1’s The Magicians, and who has featured on The John Bishop Show and Derren Brown’s 3D Magic Spectacular.

Also appearing is David Longley who has written for Channel 4’s 8 out of 10 cats. Longley is considered a gifted wordsmith with great audience interaction skills and was described in the Metro as “Intelligent, silly, thought-provoking and filthy.” MC for the evening is Kiri Pritchard McLean, described as one of British comedy’s fastest rising stars and as seen on Russell Howard’s Stand-Up Central.

If a sell-out, the night will raise some £4,500o buy the much-needed equipment for the nursery. Tickets for the charity night are £18 available from the box office on 01543 578762 or the nursery on 01922 417256.

Chris said: “It was so nice to reconnect with Gemma after so many years as I unfortunately drifted away from the area and lost touch with a good many people and hearing about the nursery’s difficulty was reason enough to agree to help.

“As comedians we so often make people laugh for 20 minutes but it’s great when we can also help in some way anddo some good at the same time.”

The nursery is a registered charity which offers the community affordable childcare but relies on donations and fundraising. Gemma said: “After years of being rated ‘outstanding’ and having an excellent reputation in the community an Ofsted inspection deemed the outdoor area as unsafe due to rubber chippings(as found in many children’s parks and playgrounds) and the nursery was made to remove them all.

“Ofsted say children could choke on the chippings. This meant that slides and outdoor equipment also had to be removed from the outdoor area as there was no longer a ‘soft’ ground if children were to fall.

“Luckily, parents and helpers worked hard to clean the area and make it safe and the nursery is now rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted. However, it has meant that outdoor provision isn’t as inviting as it used to be.”

“We can only have slides below a certain height and on the grass.”

The nursery hopes to raise money for a new, acceptable ‘soft’ ground and some climbing equipment.

Gemma said of Chris: “We met up a couple of years ago at one of his shows and have been in touch since. I said ‘Do you fancy helping with this’ and he has done a fantastic job getting some comedy stars.”