A RANGE of activities and events for children and young people across Bournemouth are to be held, thanks to the kind donation of pantomime-goers.

Customers attending Jack and the Beanstalk, UK Production's show at Bournemouth Pavilion, gave more than £7,600 to a series of outreach projects and schemes by Variety the Children's Charity and BHLive.

Variety Wessex has been raising funds to provide mobility aids, Sunshine Coaches and fun events and days out for children and young people. A sum of £5,246 was donated to the charity which, this year, is focussing on providing activities for young carers aged between five and ten years old in the Kinson area.

BH Live, which manages the theatre in partnership with Bournemouth Borough Council, will be using the remainder of the funds raised to develop its education programme and Terrace Tales, a series of free storytelling, movement and sound sessions for young children up to age six.

Paul Griffiths, BH Live’s manager for community engagement and learning, said: “Our thanks to all who continue to give so generously to support local good causes.

“This year we will be taking our Terrace Tales programme into community centres to enable more young people to enjoy the magic of theatre and imaginative performance.”

Variety Wessex chairman Frances Cornelius added: “To enable young carers to take a break from caring and give them the opportunity to enjoy being children means a great deal to them and their families.”