A PRIMARY school has helped bring a Charles Dickens novel to life.

St Margaret Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Carlisle put on a display of A Christmas Carol on Thursday night, with children from reception to year six all taking part.

At the event were charity buckets, with money raised given to Eden Valley Hospice. So far, the total raised is expected to be in the region of £800, with the school still hoping they may reach their target of £1,000.

The performance of A Christmas Carol is not the only fundraising event the school has taken part in for the hospice, with children singing at the Carlisle Christmas Artisan Market and in the town centre.

To add to that, the school children have also treated residents of Eden Valley Hospice to a special performance of their own.

“The feedback has been very positive,” explained deputy headteacher Luke Denny. “The performance was brilliant. We have some very talented children.

“We haven’t really looked to those children in the past to perform, but it gives them the opportunity to perform outside of school.

“There is the idea that people have a God given talent, to ignore that is worse than not letting everybody take part.”

The staff have also been positive about the performance.

“The feedback from the staff is that the children are really talented; I’m very proud of them,” Mr Denny continued.

“Off the back of the summer show we had a stage extension; the whole stage has widened five/six metres. You would be hard pushed to go to a primary school that has a performing arts set up like we do.”

Among the equipment used in the play were a smoke machine, snow machine, CGI (computer-generated imagery) and LED lights. CGI was used to ensure the ghost of Christmas past and Scrooge could fly. Playing the lead character of Scrooge was nine-year-old Elena Cunningham, of New Harraby.

“It went really well,” she said.

Asked if she was nervous, Elena insisted: “It was more the adrenaline that made it all better.”

Watching her perform were a number of family members.

“They were all really supportive, really proud of me,” she added. “They said they really enjoyed it.”

The school thanked Tullie House and St Bede’s Catholic Primary School for providing costumes.