YORK Hospital and Grand Opera House staff jumped for joy when they realised how much generous theatre audiences had donated to the renal unit, giving a boost to the kidney charity.

The York theatre raised £2,817.33 from bucket collections during May's week-long run of The Play That Goes Wrong and a further £53.21 for the Dementia Appeal at Grumpy Old Women.

Future collections are planned for the York Teaching Hospital Charity general fund at Hairspray's July 16 to 21 run and for the maternity bereavement suite at Cinderella, this winter's pantomime.

Janet King, a renal medicine sister, said: "The renal unit would like to say a massive thank-you to the Grand Opera House, the Play That Goes Wrong cast and the production team for supporting this collection. The money really will make a big difference to our patients."

Maggie Bulman, a fundraiser for the York Teaching Hospital Charity, said: "We are thrilled by the support the Grand Opera House has given our charity throughout the past year and want to say thank you. The money raised will definitely help make things better for patients and their families and we look forward to continuing our relationship."

Clare O’Connor, the Cumberland Street theatre's deputy manager, said the Grand Opera House was an avid supporter of the renal unit and of the work carried out by the York Teaching Hospital Charity. "Therefore we are absolutely delighted to have raised this amount in just one week. A huge thank-you goes out to the cast of The Play That Goes Wrong for their involvement and all of our patrons for being so generous.

"Renal units and kidney failure in general are often overlooked and yet dialysis is a life-saving treatment and kidney failure is one of the leading causes of death. For the patients in the unit – those that are just starting dialysis, those who see more of the staff on the unit than they do their own families, or those that have been on dialysis for 20-plus years – this will help to make their time there that little bit better.

"The hospital charity are a pleasure to work with, and we look forward to working with them again on shows in the future."