THEATRE-GOERS and staff have dug deep to help raise £11,000 for a charity.

Cancer Research UK was the Sunderland Empire’s 2009 chosen charity, among several worthy causes supported during the year.

The £11,000 tally was raised through the efforts and generosity of staff, performers and audience members at the region’s biggest theatre.

General manager Andrew Rawlinson said: “I’m delighted that, even in the difficult climate of 2009, our employees and patrons have given so generously to such a worthwhile cause.”

He handed a giant cheque for the sum to Carol Bennett, area volunteer manager for the charity, at a presentation event staged at the theatre yesterday.

Ms Bennett said: “We couldn’t continue to do the great work we do without the support of businesses like the Sunderland Empire and all of its customers, who so kindly donate.”

The money was raised through collections after performances, donations from employees, plus staff participation in charity events such as Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life.

A further sum, £4,000, was raised for London’s Great Ormond Street children’s hospital during the Empire’s recent Peter Pan pantomime run.

It was chosen as local boy Robert Steele was successfully treated at Great Ormond Street for an unusual type of epilepsy, as a child.

Now a healthy 17-yearold, Robert, from Sunderland, is studying for his A-levels.

He said: “I’m so grateful to the hospital for what it’s done for me”

An additional £2,419 was collected at the Empire BBC’s Children in Need charity, taking the theatre’s total good-causes fundraising figure to £17,640.