Seven midlands-based construction professionals and one young person are coming together on Monday 22^nd December 2025 to perform a potted pantomime, Dick Whittington. Three of them perform in amateur operatic societies but the others are new to this type of entertainment!

The main thrust of the event is to raise funds for Bfriends: Friends of Birmingham Children’s Trust and to have a bit of fun along the way! This will be a fabulous way to start your Christmas week, to have a good laugh and raise money for a good cause at the same time. After this those taking part hope their careers aren’t “behind them”!

Constructing Excellence Midlands are proud to present this special performance by stars of the construction industry, bringing festive cheer and theatrical fun to the stage.

🩺 All proceeds will go to Bfriends: Friends of Birmingham Children’s Trust

📅 4pm, 22nd December
📍 Crescent Theatre, Birmingham
🎟️ Tickets –  £23 Adults £13 Children (Including Booking Fee)

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Sponsors

Costumes –  Evo Energy

Dolly Dumpling – Saible

King Rat – Andrew Carpenter Consulting Ltd

Dick Whittington – Hadley Group

Alice Fitzwarren – Arup

Fairy Bowbells – Arup

Tommy the Cat – All Nations Barbers

Sponsorship Opportunities

Please contact tom.carpenter@cemidlands.org about any of the sponsorship packages below:

Headline Sponsor – £2,000 + VAT

• 50 tickets to be distributed to a local school of their choice
• VIP Drinks Reception, including tickets for the show, for 10 people
• Pre- and post-show publicity
• Marketing collateral throughout the theatre on the day

Drinks Reception Sponsor – £1,000 + VAT

• VIP Drinks Reception, including tickets for the show, for 10 people
• Pre- and post-show publicity
• Marketing collateral within the drink’s reception on the day

Other Sponsorship Opportunities

(These will all have a mention in the programme)

Character Sponsorship – £100 + VAT each

• Alderman Fitzwarren
• Idle Jack

Technical Sponsorships

• Sound – £200 + VAT
• Music – £200 + VAT
• Staging – £200 + VAT
• Wigs/Make-Up – £100 + VAT
• Programme – £200 + VAT

Advertisements in the Programme

• Full page: £400
• Half page: £250
• Quarter page: £150

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The Cast

Rebecca Lydon (Stantec) – Dick Whittington

Rebecca is a Director of Sustainability at Stantec, with an academic background in Sustainable Energy Technologies and Materials Science that has over almost 20 years, developed into a strong technical pre-planning advisory career in the property and construction sector.

She is a regular panel and roundtable speaker and has ‘led the charge’ on energy, sustainability and climate resilience strategies for a wide range of public and private sector projects across the UK at various scales, including internal business initiatives, SMEs, garden city and new settlement proposals as well as strategic industrial and logistics schemes, higher education and NHS estates and major R&D and life sciences developments.

Beyond work, Rebecca has loved the theatre for a long time and thanks to her dancer mum, first started treading the boards in the Midlands around 30 years ago. She is currently rehearsing for The Great British Bake-Off Musical with COMiC Theatre Company (on in March at the Atrix Theatre, Bromsgrove – ticket enquiries always welcome!) but has taken on roles big and small in her time, Paulette Buonufonte, in a NODA award winning production of Legally Blonde, Roz Keith in 9 to 5 and Nellie in Jekyll & Hyde being firm favourites with past companies.

This is also not her first panto ‘rodeo’, having previously played Alice Fitzwarren for charity (when she was still young enough to pull that off) and more recently, ‘baddies with chin and nose prosthetics’ like Piccalilli the Witch in Jack and the Beanstalk and the apple bearing version of the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

It is therefore a delight to be playing Dick – who is definitely a ‘good guy’ – bringing her two worlds together for such a deserving cause and Rebecca has hugely enjoyed meeting and rehearsing with the brave souls on stage and everyone behind the scenes. Break a leg everyone!

Rachael Hobbis ( Trowers & Hamlins LLP) – Fairy Bowbells

Andrew Carpenter – King Rat 

Andrew works as Chief Executive for CE Midlands, a post he’s held for seven years, as well as supporting Donaldson Timber Systems in the drive to use more timber in construction as the construction industry strives to meet its net zero target by 2025. In addition, Andrew is a member of the Construction Leadership Council Construct Zero Board.

When Andrew left school in 1975, he was given a piece of advice to “never burn the candle at both ends”. He didn’t listen of course and over the past fifty years he has always enjoyed working in the UK construction industry by day and the entertainment industry by night, both by appearing in musical theatre and as a DJ. In fact, when working for the Virgin Group in 1986, Andrew was voted DJ of the Year for the South West and South Wales.

Andrew joined the Frome Amateur Operatic Society (now Frome Musical Theatre Company) in 1971 and played his first part as 2nd Gangster in Kiss Me, Kate. He went on to be part of his home town Society for 43 years playing a multitude of parts including The King in The King and I, Mac Sennett in Mack & Mabel, The Pirate King in The Broadway version of The Pirates of Penzance, Sky Masterson & Nathan Detroit in Guys & Dolls, Fred Graham in Kiss Me, Kate, Will Parker & Jud Fry in Oklahoma, Perchik & Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof, Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast, Max Detwiler in The Sound of Music, Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, Alfred P Doolittle & Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady, Bill Sikes in Oliver (twice), Lord Evelyn Oakley in Anything Goes, Cornelius Hackl & Horace Vandergelder in Hello Dolly, Gerald Bolingbroke in Me and My Girl, Harold in The Full Monty and Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd as well as taking several roles in their annual pantomime productions normally as the villain. Whilst with the Frome group he also directed twelve productions, winning two Best Director awards in the annual Somerset Fellowship of Drama Awards, and was a NODA representative for three years.

During the 1980’s Andrew appeared in five shows with the Centre Light Operatic Club, Shepton Mallet playing The Mikado in The Mikado, Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow, Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof, Cornelius Hackl in Hello Dolly & 2nd Gangster in Kiss Me Kate, as well as appearing in a handful of productions at the Warminster Athenaeum over the years.

In 2015 Andrew joined Merlin Theatre Productions most notably playing Max Biallystock in The Producers, for which he received a ‘Best Actor in a Musical’ nomination at the Rose Bowl Awards and Captain Hook/Mr Darling in Peter Pan.

In 2015 Andrew also joined Bridgwater Operatic Society and Pinstripe Productions, also based in Bridgwater, to enable him to appear in the brand new £8.5m McMillan Theatre where over the years he has played Cecil B De Mille in Sunset Boulevard, Juan Peron in Evita, Walter De Courcy in Chess, General Waverly in White Christmas, Monsignor O’Hara in Sister Act and most notably Alfred P Doolittle in My Fair Lady in 2018 for which he won a Rose Bowl Award for Best Supporting Actor in a musical.

In 2017 Andrew was asked to understudy the role of Henry Higgins in the BLOC Productions production of My Fair Lady at the Bristol Hippodrome. He joined the company the following year to play Lord Scrumptious in the award-winning Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and in 2022, post the COVID pandemic, Andrew played Santa Claus in Elf the Musical, a part he went on to play in Frome and Bridgwater the following two years. He’s taking a break from Santa this Christmas to play Granpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in his hometown. The

awarding of the prestigious National Operatic & Dramatic Association 50 Year Gold Medal in 2021 was the highlight of what has been a most enjoyable and fulfilling time spent in musical theatre.

Mark Wakeford – Dolly Dumpling

Mark is the Vice-Chair at Constructing Excellence Midlands having spent over 35 years in construction and other industries.  He has performed on many stages, but only one of them in a theatre and he is quite frankly amazed and humbled that he has been asked to re-appraise his only past pantomime performance as an Ugly Sister in Cinderella that was squeezed in prior to Covid.

Despite only treading the boards once before, Mark has performed in many farces, tragedies and the occasional comedy throughout his professional engineering career, finding that he is called to play many differing roles in his business life.  Unfortunately, very few of these roles involve slapstick and large quantities of flour.

Mark wishes that his parents had done more to warn him of the dangers of pantomimes and is eternally grateful to wife and daughters, recognising the pain and anguish that they experience at each performance.

Anne Bicknell (Arup) – Alice Fitzwarren

Lee Smirthwaite (Greenwood Projects) – Idle Jack

Lee is Marketing Manager at Greenwood Projects, heading up their marketing and business development function. Lee only joined the construction industry back in 2021. Lee previously had worked for large organisations in sales / account management roles including the likes of Sony / Mamas & Papas / Hastings Insurance and Homeserve.

Lee has sung from an early age appearing as an urchin in Oliver Twist at the Crescent Theatre in Birmingham aged 12 (circa 1986). Lee also played Freddy Einsford-Hill in My Fair Lady at the Crescent Theatre in 2004. Lee lives just up the road in sunny Walsall.

Although Lee had a fifteen year break from acting, he has recently enjoyed prominent roles in shows with From the Top Theatre company based in Lichfield. Lee is also a keen guitarist and singer so is great to have around at parties! Lee has been lead vocalist in a few bands over the years and also does a bit of wedding singing also. Lee has also been known to sing songs in different languages too (Spanish, Punjabi , French…!

Lee loves nothing more than being the centre of attention, he acknowledges the torment of his long-suffering family, who have to put up with him trying to be the centre of attention at any event!

Lee is really looking forward to performing back on stage at the Crescent Theatre and helping to raise funds for such a great cause.

Andrew Bannister (Scape) – Alderman Fitzwarren