Help Shakespeare Come Home to Stratford... final day of fundraising is on Saturday

A FINAL push is being made to help raise the money needed to restore Shakespeare.

The Shakespeare’s Coming Home fundraiser has already raised, as of Wednesday, £16,740 towards the restoration work of the statue which usually adorns Stratford Town Hall. It takes the grand total to £33,480 as the jewellers Pragnell has said it will match-fund up to half the £45,000 cost.

With just one day left of the event, which will see the complete works of Shakespeare read by community groups, actors and supporters in the town hall, there is still time to hit the target.

“We’ve had lots of people turning up to support this – there’s been so much goodwill,” said Dr Paul Edmondson of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, who has organised the project. “We have a beautiful Town Hall in the heart of Stratford and people felt like they owned it a bit when they came here to enjoy the readings.

“Shakespeare’s plays also helped us find strength again because he is a great icon and he’s a beacon of solidarity with the people of Ukraine.”

Dr Edmondson said last Saturday and Sunday were both golden afternoons when Dame Harriet Walter read Rosalind in As You Like It and Dame Janet Suzman read Antony and Cleopatra with Andrew French on Sunday.

“The Town Hall was packed and we were captivated by them,” he said.

The goodwill of Stratford’s hospitality businesses has also played its part with supplies of coffee, sandwiches and cakes from the following: The Fourteas, Hobsons Patisseries, Marco Italian Delicatessen, Volkscafe, El Greco, Carluccio’s, The Music Café and Cork&Tile.

The readings continue until Saturday. For a full list and to buy tickets, visit www.ticketsource.co.uk/shakespeares-coming-home