THERE won't be many people complaining about this novel way of raising money for local good causes.

I Wish To Register A Complaint is the idea of councillor Tim Young as a way of helping out his wife, Julie, in her current mayoral year.

"She basically asked all her charities to be responsible for at least one fundraising event," Tim tells me, "and then turned around to me and said 'right, what are you going to do?' and I replied the only thing I can do really, which is put on a show."

With his family having a background in showbusiness, the popular Young Brothers, and Tim himself often dabbling on the local comedy circuit, he decided to put together a top notch cast of actors, stand-ups and performers to create a show celebrating the very best in British sketch comedy.

"The idea is to re-create some of the best known sketches in comedy," Tim adds, "from Monty Python to Not The Nine O'Clock News as well as items by such legends as Peter Cook and Dudley Moore."

The stellar cast almost reads like a who's who of the Colchester comedy scene including Darren Gooding, Dave Hughes, Carl Denham and Jo Fletcher-Cross as well as Tim and his brother Matthew.

"We've also got the Headgate's Steve Dunt," he continues, "and super local actress Nicola Goodchild who is going to do a brilliant Victoria Wood and Julie Walters sketch with Jo Fletcher-Cross."

Completing the team will be former head of music at the Sixth Form College, Nigel Hildreth, who will be providing musical accompaniment.

Tim says: "It's been so much fun rehearsing the show I cannot wait for us to do it in front of an audience.

"Hopefully people will like it and if it goes really well I would love to do it again but at the moment the idea is just to raise as much money for Julie's charities as possible. Anything else after that is a bonus."

Containing some strong language, I Wish To Register A Complaint is at the Headgate Theatre, Chapel Street North, Colchester, on February 19 at 7.30pm.

Tickets are £8, £5 for concessions, available on-line at www.headgatetheatre.co.uk or by calling the box office on 01206 366000.