Plenty of clowning around as Zippo's Circus helps raise cash for cancer appeal
THERE were no death-defying antics at Hillsborough Park yesterday morning, but there was still plenty of clowning around.
Custard pies were replaced with custard creams as the stars of Zippo's Circus took time out of their busy schedule in the Big Top at the park to host a charity coffee morning and show off their skills to curious members of the public.
The coffee morning was organised by the circus to raise money for the Weston Park Hospital's £1 million Chemotherapy Suite Appeal.
Norman Barrett, the 70-year-old ringmaster was delighted his cast of misfits could be involved. He said: "We like to support local charities wherever we go, we're lucky to do what we do for a living and it is good to give something back."
Weston Park Hospital Charity Co-ordinator, Cat Newman, hoped the event would take the appeal £500 closer to its £1 million target. She said: "We have worked with Zippo's in the past and a coffee morning is a great way for the public to meet the performers. They'll be collecting after each performance which should add considerably to the £900,000 we have already raised."
While dancer Lizzy entertained the crowds, catering staff performed acrobatics of their own serving tea and coffee to the families who'd come to see their glamorous hosts.
Nicola Robertson brought her two-year-old daughter Ellie to meet the performers. She said: "We wanted her to see the clowns before we came to the show on Tuesday and give some money to the hospital. Like a lot of people, cancer has affected our family and it is an appeal that is close to our hearts."
Children watched mesmerised by the talents of head clown Ronaldo and Bippo, a 17-year-old clown who ran away to the circus at the age 10. Bippo said: "The circus thrives on audience participation so it's great for the public to meet us and great for us to meet the public and to help such a worthy appeal."

**********************************

The decision to drop Charlie the clown from a Bicester family fun day was no laughing matter, according to two town councillors.
Bicester Town Council's summer events working party axed Charlie from the Bicester in Bloom family fun day next month, because they said children were scared of clowns.
The decision hit the national headlines and angered some local people, who criticised the council for dropping Charlie after picking a circus theme for this year's town carnival.
And this week Labour town councillors John Hanna and Les Sibley attacked the way the decision was made, saying it was never ratified by the full council.

Mr Sibley told a meeting of the full town council on Monday: "There was a concern that a decision was actually made before it came before the environment committee for consideration.
"The decision sacking Charlie the clown had already been made a decision was made outside of the council's structure.
"Had it have come through here and a proper decision made, we might have saved a lot of emb- arrassment. I don't know about anyone else having tears, I certainly did when I read about it."
Fellow councillor John Hanna said: "We did get some really bad publicity for this council, not just through the local press, but also through the national press. It may seem to a lot of people as not very serious, but the way this council came out of it was not very good."
Conservative councillor Debbie Pickford said she regretted the bad pub licity.
But she added: "I think the whole thing was taken out of context and out of all proportion it's one event. I know some children that are terrified of him. The working party has to make some sort of decisions otherwise they would never ever get things done on time."
Earlier this month Charlie the clown, aka Charlie Casey from East Sussex, said he was saddened by the decision.
He said he had many tricks to stop children being frightened of him and added that he took great pride in winning them over.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thanks to Wikipedia for this article about Joseph Grimaldi.

Joseph Grimaldi or Iron Legs (December 18, 1778 - May 31, 1837), the most celebrated of English clowns, was born in London, the son of an Italian actor.
When less than two years old he was brought upon the stage at Drury Lane; at the age of three he began to appear at Sadler's Wells; and he did not finally retire until 1828. As the clown of pantomime he was considered without an equal, his greatest success being in Mother Goose, at Covent Garden (1806 and often revived).
His father was Italian and his performance was reminiscent of Commedia dell’ Arte. He is widely hailed as the founding father of modern clowns, the pantomime. He performed often at Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Some people have claimed that Grimaldi himself was the inspiration for Frankenstein’s monster.
His Memoirs in two volumes (1838) were edited by Charles Dickens.
The famous 'sad clown' anecdote was first told of Grimaldi (later also told of Grock): A young man goes to see his doctor. He is overcome by a terrible sadness and doesn't think anything will make him feel better. The doctor says "Why not do something happy, like going to see Grimaldi the clown?". The young man answers "Ah, but doctor," with a knowing look "I am Grimaldi."
To this day every year on the first Sunday in February a memorial service is held for Grimaldi at All Saints' Church, Haggerston, Hackney, North-East London - the home of the Clowns' Gallery. For this service hundreds of clowns flock from all over the world in full 'garb' and the service is followed by a show for the children.
The original editions of the book of Grimaldi's memoirs are very hard to find, either in antiquarian bookshops or even Online. But there are two digital / P.O.D. versions now available. Self-publisher John Haines ( Josh Rogan ) has made available a scanned copy of an 1846 edition, and a full-text version of the 1853 Routledge 'Cheap New Series' edition. The former has its own charm as it is entirely made up of scanned pages and the stained, darkened pages of such an old book evoke the era, but this takes up to an hour to download, whereas the latter is a full-text EBook, which downloads quickly. Both have the illustrations and revisions.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *