It is eight years since Linda Smith died of Ovarian Cancer. Her partner of 23 years, Warren Lakin, has been celebrating her life with an annual event, Loving Linda, to raise funds for Target Ovarian Cancer. The shows have raised over £125,000 for the charity to date.
I was privileged to be in attendance at the most recent show at the Rose Theatre in Kingston. The occasion was bitter sweet, as I had first met Linda when she was a regular on BBC Radio 4’s News Quiz hosted by my friend, the late Simon Hoggart, former chair of News Quiz and whose memorial I had attended just last week. Two brilliant clever and witty people lost to virulent forms of cancer that make diagnosis crucial to your odds of survival.
Having been introduced, Linda went on to become a wonderful supporter of our work and was on the judging panel for the Funny Women Awards in 2004. It is a fitting legacy that many of the finalists that year went on to have successful careers: Bridget Christie (who performed last night), Roisin Conaty, Anna Crilly, and Zoe Lyons (who won) in particular.
The Linda Smith legacy was in full force last night with strong performances from the afore mentioned Bridget, who won the Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award last year, Angela Barnes who won the BBC New Comedy Award in 2011 and another Funny Women Awards alumni, Susan Calman, who hosted the show.
Linda was cited as an inspiration by all the acts who took part including her hilarious News Quiz chum, Andy Hamilton, Jay Rayner in the guise of jazz pianist, funny songs from Rory McGrath and Philip Pope, and the outstanding Mark Thomas, who brought the proceedings to a hilarious conclusion. There was music, jazz and laughs a plenty – Linda would have been proud.
I left with my brain spinning about new definitions for ‘Farage’. Mark Thomas explained that he has embarked upon a quest to commit ‘100 Acts of Minor Dissent’ and, as his self-imposed deadline looms, one of his acts of dissent is to encourage the public to find obscure meanings for the word, ‘farage’ (rhyme here with garage and no French accent), as a campaign to nullify the effects of Nigel Farage, the infamous leader of UKIP. If he fails then he has pledged to donat £1,000 to UKIP! Get your thinking caps on and get inspiration from some of the many lurking on the twittersphere by search #farageis, for example, ‘to attempt, discreetly, to scratch an anal itch when in a public situation’.
Much hilarity ensued around this – although judging by a few poker faces in the audience, UKIP have a few followers in the Kingston area. Maybe after last night they will see sense…
Enough of the politics and more wellbeing. If you would like to support Target Ovarian Cancer in Linda’s memory please visit the website HERE. Tell them Funny Women sent you.
Lynne Parker is the founder and executive producer of Funny Women.
