The Royal Ballet’s Gary Avis & Friends
 Hosted by Angela Rippon OBE | The Regent – Ipswich, Suffolk
11 September, 2011 – Two performances ONLY
Thanks | The Event on Flickr | Tim’s Gala Review |
Gary’s Preview Blog | Gary’s article in August’s Suffolk Magazine | Preview feature from the East Anglia Daily Times
Our UK Patrons Gary Avis and Angela Rippon OBE along with World Hunger Day star performers Steven McRae and Jumoké Fashola raised an incredible £50,000 at an All Star Gala in Ipswich.
 Following the success of the launch of World Hunger Day in January 2011, The Royal Ballet’s Gary Avis and Friends a World Hunger Day production took place at The Regent Theatre, Ipswich on September 11th, 2011 in aid of The Hunger Project.
This was the first regional World Hunger Day event and took place at the largest theatre in East Anglia. It was also the first time that dancers from both The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet had taken to the stage at this theatre since the 1960’s.
Gary  Avis, Suffolk-born star of the Royal Ballet and Patron of THP UK led the Gala hosted by another THP UK Patron, Angela Rippon OBE. Learn more about our Patrons.
”Both Angela and I are really proud to be a patron of The Hunger Project. We were shocked to find that 20,000 people still die every day from hunger and poverty and that one in six people on the planet has to exist on less than 80p a day.”
Who performed?
 ” I’m so pleased that my friends Steven McRae and Jumoké Fashola, both of whom gave such incredible performances in January, performed. I’m also delighted that The Royal Ballet’s Roberta Marquez, Nehemiah Kish, Melissa Hamilton, Paul Kay, Leanne Cope, Yuhui Choe , Liam Scarlett, Ryoichi Hirano and Yasmine Naghdi joined me with very special guest English National Ballet’s Principal Ballerina Begoña Cao”
2,600 people from East Anglia attended
Gary wanted to raise awareness as well as money for The Hunger Project and his desire to support the charity was inspired by the first World Hunger Day in January.
“I tried to create an opportunity for the whole community to come together, so we had Royal Ballet Pianist Kate Shipway and The Royal Opera’s Nigel Cliffe performing along with guest pianist Peter Edwards playing for Jumoke Fashola. I also wanted to include the local community in the two shows, so my friends from The Co-op Juniors, Ipswich Operatic Society, Appeal Theatre Group and The Gallery Players joined together as a mass choir for the evening. Also we had young performers from my original dance school, Linda Shipton School of Dance, who performed in the show.”
Didn’t make it?
 You can still support Gary and The Hunger Project. If you would like to order a copy of the Gala Programme (for a minimum donation of £15.00) please get in touch with mark.speirs@thp.org.
Why not set up your own regional event or fundraising activity to raise money for World Hunger Day 2012. Whether you want to walk, bake, rake, use the talents you have and get involved. Have fun and don’t forget to share you ideas with us, they might inspire others to get involved too.
Get Started – It couldn’t be easier to get your fundraising underway, set up your online sponsorship page in minutes. Don’t forget to read our resources guide to get the most from your efforts.
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