A ST HELENS company has received a standing ovation for its role in a high profile campaign that has raised more than £1million for theatre charities in lockdown.

The Branded Items Group (BIG) decided to diversify in April last year at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, providing PPE, hand gel and branded face masks.

But just 12 months later, the fortunes of the multi award-winning company have changed following an enquiry from the newly-formed Theatre Support Fund in London’s West End.

Chris Marcus and Damien Stanton, two friends who worked in London’s theatre industry had created the brand ‘The Show Must Go On’, with the aim of selling branded merchandise to raise much-needed funds for charities supporting the theatre industry.

Managing director of BIG Steve Fairhurst said: “The initial enquiry to our company was for just 100 branded mugs and 100 books.

“I thought that ‘The Show Must Go On’ campaign was brilliant from inception and the message resonated with the situation we were all facing during the Covid-19 crisis.

“We were however shocked at what was to follow and how fast the campaign took off.

“The theatre ordering system literally crashed within days due to the high demand.”

Chris Marcus, found of The Theatre Support Fund said: “We started the Theatre Support Fund as a tiny project in April 2020 but the project grew at an extraordinary rate.

“By the end of the first day on sale, the orders were near 1,000 books and mugs and 6,500 t-shirts.”

The Show Must Go On campaign gathered momentum and drew international media attention with high profile celebrities like Keira Knightly and Dame Judy Dench supporting the cause as well as a cast of household names who posted images of themselves wearing the branded t-shirts.

The year-long campaign culminated last week with the Theatre Support Fund running a five-night live performance of The Show Must Go On Live at the Palace Theatre in London starring a host of west end musical legends and hosted by Bonnie Langford.

The BIG directors attended the show with a live stream performance being broadcast to more than 500,000 people on YouTube, where it was revealed that the campaign had raised £1million for theatre charities.

Chris added: “Steve has been like the third key member of our team.

“He has been there literally day and night to help us and respond to our needs and ideas for new products as the range grew.

“The whole operation, which turned into a project turning over millions of pounds, has been successful in a large part due to the help of Steve and BIG.

“We’ve all been through a lot on this project and it’s raised a huge amount of money and been the focus of the entire theatre community during the pandemic all down to the hard work and persistence of our very small team of which Steve and his team have been hugely important.”

Steve said: “We feel so privileged and lucky to have been involved in this campaign.

“When I think back to that first phone call last year, it’s incredible to think how much the Theatre Support Fund has raised with merchandise being sold to more than 70 countries worldwide.

“The enormity of what we have been involved in only really sunk in when we were sitting at the Palace Theatre at the live performance and could see what it meant to performers and the audience alike.”

BIG, which was given a UK business hero status from the Countess of Wessex during lockdown for their work in the local community, are now looking to expand their work in the theatre industry.