AMBULANCE workers have raised £1,000 for charity by taking to the stage.

Staff from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service raised the money for York Against Cancer with a fundraising pantomime last month.

Hundreds of people went along to see Oz-Mania at Acomb Working Men’s Club in January, a play written by ambulance dispatcher Perri Barley, from Haxby.

The play was performed by Perri and her fellow emergency workers, who formed the Blue Light Theatre Company, and also supported the Motor Neurone Disease Association in memory of YAS worker Sally Waudby, who died of the condition in 2012.

Perri, who also starred as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the Wizard of Oz-themed pantomime, said: “It went really well.

“We were absolutely packed on the last night.”

Mother-of-two Sally worked as a paramedic until being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, which saw her physical condition deteriorate until she was unable to speak or move unaided.

She died in 2012 at the age of 50, but her colleagues helped raise £12,000 in the last months of her life, to fund a special computer which enabled her to communicate with her friends and family.

The equipment went on to be used by other patients in the area, and was paid for by initial funds raised partly by the Blue Light Theatre Company’s first production Snow White And The Five Ailments.

A spokeswoman for the Blue Light Theatre Company said: “Sadly, she only had the device for a short time before her untimely but inevitable death at age 50. The computer is now being used by another person with the disease and giving them their voice and life for a little longer.

“It was then decided to continue with the fundraising and the idea of performing a Pantomime was put forward. It was originally intended to be a one off but proved so popular that audiences, and the cast, demanded more.”

Last year, the emergency responders staged The Fairytale of a Hypochondriac to raise money for York Against Cancer and the Motor Neurone Disease Association, and the panto has become an annual event.

Perri’s husband and colleague Craig Barley, and fellow worker Glen Gears presented a cheque for £1,000 to York Against Cancer at the charity’s Huntington base.