A CHRISTMAS show has been saved, thanks to a donation by a Colchester charity.

Children on the town’s Greenstead estate have now started rehearsals for their festive performance, which this year is Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

But just a few months ago, it was feared the production, which costs about £2,000 to stage, would have to be cancelled, because there was no funding available.

Abigail Reid, manager of the Greenstead Community Centre, feared lack of money would force her to pull the plug on the production, which has been held at the centre, in Hawthorn Avenue, for the past three years.

However, organisers were delighted when the Hervey Benham Charitable Trust came forward with £3,000, after reading about the centre’s plight in the Gazette.

She said: “We would have been devastated and the children would have been, too, if we couldn’t put the show on. They absolutely love it and so do their families, so it would have been awful.

“We were over the moon when the charitable trust got in touch.

“It means we can put on a good show this Christmas, and there is enough left over to hold a five-day cabaret over the summer as well.

“The whole community gets involved. The children just grow in confidence and make lots of new friends.”

About 40 young people will take part in the show on December 22. Tickets will be available from the centre nearer the time.