Merry midwives' final curtain after 40 years

A group of nurses that has raised around £150,000 over 40 years of staging charity shows is preparing to take its final bow.

The Merry Midwives was set up by Julie Brady and a colleague in 1986. They got the performing bug after they were asked to put together a skit for the former Nuneaton Maternity Hospital show.

The pair pulled together a group to raise funds for hospital equipment, and loved it so much they decided to continue, picking up firm friends along the way.

Brady, now 69, who lives in Nuneaton and directs the performances, said The Merry Midwives - The Final Curtain at Abbey Theatre in October would feel "bittersweet", adding: "We want to go out on a high."

Her first performance with fellow midwife, Maggie Davies, who has since sadly died, was in March 1981, when the pair were asked by their boss to "show what midwives could do".

"We just loved it," the retired midwife remembered.

A few years later they began taking to the stage regularly, at first raising funds for TVs, stethoscopes and foetal Dopplers for the maternity unit.

As their fame spread, the group was asked to perform at the Royal College of Midwives AGM, and a conference in Harrogate, and they also appeared on BBC quiz show, Eggheads.

Over the years they have shared their proceeds with a range of local organisations, including the air ambulance, a singing for dementia group and Mary Ann Evans Hospice in Nuneaton.

The 15-strong group is now largely retired, but ranges in age from 37 to 84, with three working nurses including Brady's daughter, a singer who "keeps us in tune and teaches us some harmonies."

Described as "half a review, half a pantomime", their performances comprise of rewritten songs, sketches and dances.

"We always ask our audiences to bear in mind that we'd never give up our day jobs," Brady laughed.

"It's very fast-moving. We have a horde of women behind the scenes who literally rip one costume off and throw another one on because we've only got three minutes before we're back on."

Abbey Theatre volunteers help with lighting, sound and stage management, and the group divvies up other jobs.

Many members of their audience have been coming back to watch every year since 1986.

Only a handful of the original performers remain, with some "great friends" lost along the way.

"We're just a great group of friends," Brady said. "We've had lots of ups and downs... Lots of us have had near misses and operations.

"I find it amazing that there's 15 of us that have got such a daft sense of humour and have stuck together over the last 40 years.

"Really it's the friendship that's the best thing."

She said she would miss the act "hugely", even though "40 years is a long time to be compiling shows, making costumes and making props".

But the group plans to keep meeting up socially, including at a singing group they have formed on the side.

"As long as we keep seeing each other I think we'll be fine," Brady said.

The Merry Midwives - The Final Curtain shows take place from 1-3 October, with proceeds going to charities Guy's Gift, The Friendship Project and Saints.

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