Beaconsfield High students honour their late friend in stunning dance show

Two year 10 students from Beaconsfield High organised a dance show to raise funds in memory of their friend Maddy Murrell who died last May following a battle with cancer.

Maddy’s form and some of her closest friends met with Headteacher Rachel Smith to begin to raise money to create Maddy’s Memorial Garden, a space to remember Maddy and enjoy being together.

Following this two of Maddy’s closest friends, Rosie Thompson and Sasha Tuke, spent months planning a dance show to raise money for the garden.

Rosie and Sasha said: “Our form decided to create a garden within school because we wanted to keep Maddy’s memory in the school forever, and we wanted to have a place which reminds every one of her positivity and inspiration.”

Over 40 dancers from year 8 and 10 performed in front of a large crowd in memory of Maddy on October 24.

This successful evening was due to the months of work put in by the students who coordinated rehearsals and organised people to run the bar, plan ticketing and much more.

Almost £2500 was raised from the show and almost £16,000 has been raised so far for the Memorial Garden.

Headteacher Rachel Smith said: “We are incredibly proud of Rosie and Sasha.

“The show on Thursday was professional, entertaining and the quality of the dance was of course, exceptional.

“Our Getting Life Ready programme teaches our students to be creative thinkers, collaborative workers, to take risks and to be ambitious, and that’s exactly what these two 15-year-olds have done.

“I’m sure that when they came up with the idea last term, they didn’t anticipate how much work it would entail, but they rose to the challenge and not only put on a night worthy of Maddy’s memory.”