The Theatre by the Lake is launching its Give the Gift of Theatre as a year round campaign after success over Christmas.

Over the Christmas period, Theatre by the Lake (TBTL) helped families facing hardship to create magical memories with their Give the Gift of Theatre fundraising campaign, which raised a total of £17,423.54, and enabled 250 recipients to attend A Little Princess.

Building on this success, TBTL is now launching Give the Gift of Theatre as year-round initiative.

Liz Stevenson, TBTL Artistic Director said: “Christmas is all about making memories as a family, ones that will be cherished for a lifetime.

“We were able to make this happen with support from our great community here in Cumbria.

“With the year-round campaign, we’ll be able to support more families and individuals across Cumbria to experience the joy of live theatre and create those lasting memories.”

Having worked with Public Health Cumbria to identify families that would most benefit from support, and with Rotary Club of Cockermouth they fundraised to provide free tickets and transport for families to enjoy performances of A Little Princess.

The scale of the campaign would not have been possible without the theatre’s business supporters, David Allen IT, CRS Facilities Management, Muckles LLP and UK Global Broking Group.

A spokesperson for the West Cumbria Refugee Support Network, who brought a group to see the show, said: “I just want to let you know that two of our resettled refugee families who went to the show at Theatre by the Lake on Sunday absolutely loved it.

“One Afghan man, who went with his wife and two children, said ‘it was a really unique experience for all of us’ and an Afghan woman told me she understood the central meaning of the story – that you must never give up, even when things seem hopeless, because people will show kindness and offer you help when you least expect it.

“That definitely struck a chord for her.”

The Theatre by the Lake prides itself in making and sharing exciting theatre for all people who live in and visit Cumbria.

You can make a donation here.

However, many people are unable to enjoy a night out with a show, often due to circumstances beyond their control.

Working with its audiences, it aims to open its work to as many people as possible.

As a year-round campaign, Give the Gift of Theatre will fund tickets for people facing financial hardship, continue to make theatre more accessible with British Sign Language, Captioned, Audio Described and Relaxed Performances, and provide heavily discounted tickets for schools, meaning more young people can benefit from access to arts and culture in Cumbria.

The Spring/Summer programme has been announced with a mix of local and national performances with Little Shop of Horrors, Keswick Film Festival and Banff Mountain Film Festival just three of the stand out offerings.

More information can be found on the theatres website here.