Love Never Ends for Dad

Raymond Hopkins explains how his farcical comedies raise money for medical research.

Twenty-six years ago, at the age of nineteen, my daughter, Katy was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This life changing news hit my family hard and made me realise that I needed to raise some money for research. It’s a fairly simple equation; the more raised, the sooner a cure will be found. 

For some unknown reason, I decided that my way of fund-raising would be to write a stage play, get it published, and give the proceeds to M. S. research. Being a complete novice in this field, I naively thought everything would fall into place and the money would soon start flowing in! 

After eighteen months I had completed my first manuscript and called it Love Begins at Fifty. I then proceeded to telephone publishers, who I assumed would be eager to take on my work. Following many frustrating phone calls I was soon brought back down to earth. I realized that getting people interested in an unknown playwright was challenging to say the least. However, with much perseverance, I finally found myself a publisher. 

My faith in the play proved to be justified, because the following year it ran for the summer season at the TOADS Theatre in Torquay – United Kingdom.  The play went down well, giving it the credence it needed, and more importantly, raising funds for MS research. 

I have now written a total of ten full-length farcical comedies, all with the word love in the title.  I am pleased to say that the plays are doing well and have had over one thousand productions in the U. K. They have also proved to be very popular in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.  

Ending on a happy note, Katy keeps well. So far, over forty-five thousand pounds has been sent for Multiple Sclerosis Research. 

As for me, I will continue writing until I can hear those wonderful words: -

‘A cure for M.S. has been found.’  

For details of my efforts please visit www.raymondhopkins.com