A theatre company has raised £11,000 for charity following a ‘love letter’ cabaret for their late director.
Raenbow Productions, based in Bearsden, has been offering theatre classes for children aged from five to 18 alongside writing and producing bespoke plays and musicals for over two decades.
But when the company lost their musical director, Margot Traynor following her eight-year battle with cancer, there was a massive hole left at the heart of Raenbow Productions.
Anne Rae, artistic director at Raenbow Productions, said: “Margot and I wrote and did everything together at Raenbow.
“When she died it was a massive loss of a friend and a loss to the company too.
“I was with her the day she died at the Beatson Centre at Gartnavel Hospital and I remember the nurse crying.
“She was a friend to so many people at Beatson and Raenbow. Everyone knew and loved her.”
Following Margot’s loss and the grief that came with it, Anne decided that Raenbow would put on three cabaret performances as a final love letter to the 57-year-old.
The sold-out performances, which featured adults and kids as young as seven performing 30 songs a night, raised a significant amount of money for The Beatson Cancer Charity, who took 'great' care of Margot.
Anne said: “We thought the performances would be a great way for Margot to go – to sort of make it all about her.
“A lot of people in the audience knew Margot and this was their way to say goodbye too.
“Sadly, no one’s not been affected by cancer, and we were all so close to her, so there were a lot of tears.
“Everyone came out to donate and no one wanted a penny to be part of the production. I’ve honestly never sold so many raffle tickets in all my life.”
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Anne also made sure the performances paid homage to her brother, Alan Rae, who died from Motor Neuron disease at the age of 66.
She said: “My brother was such a great supporter of me and my role within the company.
“When we started planning the cabaret performances, I thought it would be a good way to do something in his honour, as well as Margot’s.
“When he took unwell, I was helping with his care at the time and sort of realised that there is a lack of proper care and knowledge when it comes to Motor Neuron Disease.
“He ended up having to go to a home and I wanted to make sure half of the money raised went towards helping a special charity with the care side of things.”
Half of the £11,000 went to the My Name5’s Doddie Foundation – which works to improve the lives of those affected by Motor Neuron Disease.
Raenbow production presented both selected charities with their cheques on Monday, January 15.
Anne said Beatson and especially My Name5’s Doddie were extremely grateful.
She added: “Both the charities were not expecting that much money from us.
“The My Name5’s Doddie Foundation in particular were just so grateful for our effort.”
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So, now that the performances are finished, how is Anne feeling?
She said: “I’m honestly just so relieved that the shows worked out and that I managed to do it without Margot, I never thought I would.
“I’m so proud of every single person involved in the shows, literally everybody, Margot would have been so proud of it too.
“I’m just so happy, I’m thrilled.”
To find out more about Raenbow Productions, click HERE
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