Hubb Foundation, JCB and New Vic bring stage success to Bentilee

Stoke-on-Trent charity The Hubb Foundation and Staffordshire digger giant JCB brought a day of free professional stage performances to the heart of a Stoke-on-Trent community as the highlight of their second half-term Hubb Holidays scheme this week. 

The two organisations joined forces with Newcastle’s New Vic to bring the theatre’s Stoke the Fiery Dragon interactive show and fun workshop to Bentilee’s St Maria Goretti Primary School - entertaining more than 50 youngsters. 

Stoke the Fiery Dragon was first performed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the City of Stoke and took the audience of five to ten-year-olds on a journey through important milestones in the city’s history and its rich industrial heritage.

The story was told through the eyes of two playful characters: potters ‘Clay’ and ‘Mold’ played by Naomi Johnson and Elizabeth Daily-Hunt, who were on a mission to bring back their beloved pet dragon’s puff. References to famous stories along the way included King George V and Queen Mary’s visit to the city to confer the Royal Charter, the World War II rebuilding of Czech village Lidice and Ann Margaret Savous Shirley – born in Stoke-on-Trent and best known for being a historian of the Polar Exploration in both the Arctic and Antarctic in 1960.

The Hubb Foundation School Relationship manager, Tana Owen said: “The New Vic performances were a brilliant showcase event for our second JCB Hubb Holidays scheme. For many children this was the first time they had seen a professional theatre production and we know experiences like this can be life-changing and inspiring for young people. 

“The JCB partnership is proving a real lifeline for parents too – ensuring our HAF programme is extended to cover every school holiday and making it a happy, fun and healthy experience for those most in need across the city.”

The scheme provides 1,000 places of free half term holiday activities and healthy meals for underprivileged children at 35 schools across the city and other highlights of the half term schedule included football game computer coding, poetry workshops and fun multisport sessions.

To find out more about The Hubb Foundation visit www.thehubbfoundation.com, for more information about JCB in the community visit https://www.jcb.com/en-GB/explore/insight/ and for more about The New Vic Theatre visit https://www.newvictheatre.org.uk