Wokingham voice actor Michele Wood has joined other actors and celebrities to raise thousands of pounds for Cancer Research UK.
Michele and the other actors, have each recorded a minute of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ for an audiobook which is being released one chapter at a time as a series of podcasts during December.
Among the celebrities taking part are Phyllis Logan, Downton Abbey’s head housekeeper Mrs Hughes, and Pirates of the Caribbean star Kevin McNally.
Michele said: “I wanted to take part because it’s such a wonderful way to raise money for an important cause, and with the combined efforts of so many talented actors we really hope we can make a difference and inspire people to donate towards the prevention and treatment of cancer, which affects so many people’s lives every day.”
The project is the brainchild of three-times cancer survivor Brad Shaw from Chiswick, West London. He was first diagnosed with stage three malignant melanoma, then prostate cancer, and then, in April this year, the skin cancer returned, and he has just completed treatment for that.
Following his first diagnosis Brad came up with the idea of ‘The Wonderland Challenge’, inviting fellow actors to record an audiobook of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to raise money for the NHS. Among those taking part were actors Michael Palin, Dame Juliet Stevenson, Ruth Jones and Dame Harriet Walter.
Now, nearly three years later, Brad, 59, is about to launch The Wonderland Challenge 2 – ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ audiobook – to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
Brad said: “I’ve had cancer three times now but I’m alive and cancer free! So, I decided to do the Wonderland project again as my way of saying thank you, for the treatment I’ve had and to everyone who has helped save my life – three times!
“This time I have split the book into 174 one-minute chunks with each actor, voice actor or celebrity recording one minute each and donating at least £10 to Cancer Research UK. I’m really grateful to Michele and all the others involved for their time and their support.”
Donations have already reached nearly £5,000 and Brad is hoping there is much more to come, with a new chapter being released every two days until December 22.
Cadena Sampson, relationship executive for Cancer Research UK, said: “We’re delighted Brad and is putting all this time and energy into the Wonderland 2 project to raise money for Cancer Research UK and our goal of finding better and kinder treatments for all types of cancer.
“We’re also really grateful for the voice actors involved in this project. It’s our supporters like this who will help us make those desperately-needed breakthroughs in the future.”
To find our more about The Wonderland Challenge visit www.wonderlandvo.com/challenge.
To donate to Cancer Research visit https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/brads-giving-page-62.
