Another fun Yoghurt gig tonight in Hereford. During the interval I popped into the loo in my dressing room. As a supporter of SCOPE I was pleased to see that it was a disabled toilet. But what I didn't notice was that the bathroom floor was maybe half an inch higher than the floor of the dressing room. I tripped over it. Luckily I regained my footing and avoided slamming head-first into the mirror on the wall opposite, but the incident did make me consider how ironic it would have been if I had become disabled walking into a disabled toilet. It would be difficult to tell the story of how you ended up in a wheelchair without people having to stiffle a giggle. They would then feel bad about laughing at such a sad story and so the incident would be a double whammy: incapacitating me and ultimately depressing everyone who heard the tale.
Apparently the man who designed the theatre slightly messed up his plans (or at least that is what I was told later in Hereford's top night-club - I will leave you to imagine how great a place that was). So he inadvertently turned an attempt to grant disabled access into a potential disability trap. It is more of a disabling toilet than a disabled toilet.
Coincidentally I got an email in the interval from the people at SCOPE telling me that they would like to proceed with the charity programme for this year's Edinburgh show. As with last year I am going to give you the chance to get your name in the programme by making a donation of (at least) £10. In return you will see your name in print (the more you donate, the bigger your name will be) and be sent a special signed and numbered limited edition programme when they are ready. Last year you all paid for more than the production costs of the programme which means that all the advertising revenue and collection money went directly to SCOPE, so let's try and do that again. You can donate at
http://www.justgiving.com/menageaun or send me a cheque to Richard Herring, PO BOX 48323, London, W12 8YY. Please donate as much as you can. Remember I don't charge you for this website and so if you feel it is worth a tenner a year for warming up then it would be fabulous if you could donate that or more to SCOPE.
Do get in touch also if you or a company you know would like to buy a page of advertising in the programme. It will be given free to 7000 comedy fans over the next year and my rates are very reasonable. Please email me at richardherring@richardherring.com if you or anyone you know is interested.
If you do sponsor the programme then please email me your address so I can send you a programme. Thanks in advance for your generosity.
