Simply The Best: Everyone’s Talking About star-studded charity show

Simply The Best aims to raise £50,000 for charity fund BB With Love – launched in memory of Bev Croke – to support Weston Park Cancer Charity at Sheffield City Hall, on Sunday, October 2.

BUY TICKETS: For tickets and more information visit www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk or call the box office on 0114 553 3330.

Bev died from breast cancer in March 2021, aged just 61.

A whopping £35,000 was raised last year with an inaugural Simply The Best show at the venue, organised in honour of the ‘magnificent wife and truly special mum’, by Bev’s husband Mick, daughter Rachel and sons Matthew and Sean.

RMC Academy of Theatre Performance Principal Rachel and her West End and The Voice star brother Matthew called on help from their showbiz friends and West End, TV, film and music stars turned up to perform – as they will again this weekend.

Just added to the bill is Everybody’s Talking About Jamie film star Max Harwood.

Also in the spotlight will be Hayley Tamaddon, Melissa Jacques, George Ure, Jahz and Darius Duncan (aka 2Che), Ella Vaday, Daniel Brocklebank, Matt Henry MBE, and Bev’s own family.

Gok Wan is set to host the show – all to support cancer care and advances in treatment in the South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire regions.

Money raised will help to provide physical, emotional, practical and financial support for people and families affected by cancer after the love, support and care the Croke family received from Weston Park after Bev’s diagnosis in 2019.

“By setting up BB with Love, it’s like saying from Bev with love – through us, she’s still able to help you,” said her daughter Rachel.

“That’s where the inspiration came from putting BB With Love together and setting up the fund. It’s where working with Weston Park Cancer Charity has come from. We wanted to help and want to continue what mum wanted to do in helping people.”

Simply The Best 2022 takes place at the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual event designed to raise awareness for cancer symptoms, support and care available for the thousands of people and families facing a diagnosis just like Bev and the Crokes.

The Croke family have worked tirelessly since Bev passed away to do just that – raising almost £40,000 to support Weston Park Cancer Charity’s cancer support services and to enable treatment advances through research in our region.

This year’s concert will again feature a moving performance by Sheffield Cancer Choir – of which Bev was a much-loved member before she passed away, taking part in gigs both online and in-person.

Matthew, a leading West End star himself, recalled the times Bev spoke to him about her own performances.

“She said to me before she was performing ‘oh Matt, what are you doing tonight because I’ve got a gig’,” said Matthew.

“Very often she would ask me what I was doing that day, and I’d say ‘oh I’ve got a gig later’. So it was her turn to have a gig – and this is her big gig. That’s the way I’m looking at it.”

As well as raising vital funds, the Croke family want BB With Love and Simply The Best to raise awareness of the support which is out there for cancer patients and their families.

Michael Croke said: “Treatment is getting better every day. It’s improving all the time and for every penny we raise, if it pays towards helping raise awareness of the support which is out there, particularly mental health support, or if someone up at Weston Park’s research centre finds a treatment which gets us closer to a cure – wouldn’t that be wonderful?

“It’d be absolutely wonderful. And you never give up on that. We never will. That’s what’s motivating us in every way. Beverley’s passing… There’s got to be a reason for it.”

Get your tickets online at www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk or call 0114 553 3330 for more information.