Singing to help charity

Victoria, one of the founder members of Contact Theatre Productions, which staged the sell-out show Little Wicked Night Music last October, is organising Facing the Music in aid of James, who plans to row the Atlantic in December, to raise £250,000 for the charity Facing the World, which funds life-changing surgery for children with severe facial disfigurements.

James is a former pupil of St Philip Howard High School and Worthing Sixth Form College. He and West End/film actor Robert Portal will set out from the Canary Islands as part of the Atlantic Challenge in December and row 3000 nautical miles to Barbados. It is expected to take around two-three months.

Now his sister plans to help him in the way she knows best – by singing. She and co-founder of Contact, Iain Matley, will present a cabaret-style concert at The Waverley Rooms, West Bognor on Saturday June 25. James and his rowing partner – whom drama lovers will recognise from the West End production of The 39 Steps and the Oscar-laden movie The Kings Speech - will open the show by giving a brief presentation about the row and the charity.

Victoria, (24) from Felpham, promised a programme to include Andrew Lloyd Webber classics plus newer Broadway numbers, plus a contemporary music programme to include Adele and Michael Buble.

Victoria is heading to London in September to pursue her career: “I am in talks with agents. I will be going up for castings and open auditions. I want to do musical theatre, but I will do anything.

“I am hungry enough for it! I can’t really imagine doing anything else. I am doing my teaching qualification at the moment, but every day, I wake up singing. I walk around singing. I am tap-dancing at the bus stop!

“I just want to do it. And I am stubborn enough!”

Victoria launched her professional singing career last month by performing at the International Media launch for the Royal Wedding at St James’s Palace. She has appeared in many amateur and semi-professional productions including We Will Rock You (Winchester); Broadway to Bond (Worthing Pavilion); Rent and the recent smash hit Footloose (Rox Music and Arts).

For tickets for the show, call Victoria on 07852 976352. For more information on the row and the charity, visit the website www.FacingtheAtlantic.com or visit Facebook and type Facing the Atlantic in the search bar and follow training progress on video clips and photos; or to donate, visit www.justgiving.com/Facingtheatlantic.