Hartlepool musicians to put on a show to help save Heugh Battery Museum from closure

The Phoenix Variety Showgroup performing at Hartlepool's Small Crafts Club. Picture courtesy of Ian Altringham.

The Phoenix Variety Showgroup have agreed to put on a fundraising show in aid of the campaign to save the Heugh Battery Museum from closure.

The museum on the Headland, which is the only First World War battlefield site in the UK, has just weeks to raise £5,000 to ensure it can open in the summer.

Heugh Battery Museum manager Diane Stephens

The Mail is supporting the battery’s cause through our Battery Charge campaign.

Derrick Rowbotham, of the Phoenix Showgroup, agreed to put on a show after being asked by Councillor Dave Hunter,

Coun Hunter, along with community champion Stephen Picton and Burbank Community Centre manager Ian Cawley, are organising two sponsored walks for the battery on Sunday, May 19.

Derrek said: “One of the main reasons we were formed was to help people in need and try to raise money for charities.

“We will do anything to help anybody and good causes and obviously the Heugh gun battery is an important cause for Hartlepool.

“We don’t want to lose it; it’s as simple as that, so we are doing our bit to help keep it afloat.”

The Phoenix Showgroup are a 10-piece music group who play music from the 1920s to modern day.

They comprise Derrick and his wife Shirley Rowbotham; fellow married couples Brian and Linda Edmenson, Olwyn and Ralph Ward and Derek and Josephine Bonner; plus Kathryn Collinson and Jenny Weatherill.

The show in aid of the Heugh Battery Museum will take place on Friday, April 26, at the Corporation Club (Clippy Club), in Whitby Street.

Ticket details will be announced soon.

Recent causes they have supported through shows include Alice House Hospice, the Coronia Dunkirk ‘little ship’ which is being restored at the marina, and St Aidan’s Church food kitchen.

The Heugh Battery Museum, which operates largely thanks to the goodwill of volunteers, needs to raise £3,500 a month.

A crowdfunding page at www.justgiving.com currently sands at just over £1,800.

To donate to the fund, visit www.justgiving.com/campaign/heughbatterymuseum.

McColl’s at Northgate on the Headland also have a collection tin on their counter so customers can support the appeal.