MEMBERS of Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Society’s Youth Section (WODYS) will be raising money for city charity New Hope when they stage their 2013 production, Copacabana.

New Hope, in Wells Road, Ronkswood, supports 50 families from all over Worcestershire and as far afield as Stratford-upon-Avon.

As a result of their success, the charity now hopes to expand and open premises in Droitwich.

Their cause has been taken up by WODYS, as one of its members has a disabled brother and the family is being supported by New Hope.

WODYS uses its annual musical to raise money for a local charity, primarily for children, and so far has raised more than £21,000 for organisations including Acorns Children’s Hospice and Fort Royal Community Primary School. The group was visited by founder Jean Wilson who explained that the emphasis of New Hope is to get children out and about into the local community and beyond to enjoy their leisure time, just as their non-disabled peer group do.

Last summer, they took children on a wide range of activities including a visit to Legoland, swimming, bowling and horse riding. They also have a multi-sensory room and the money raised by WODYS will probably go towards providing equipment for it.

Mrs Wilson said: “As you can imagine running New Hope is an expensive thing to do, mainly because so many of our children need one-to-one support. We have been lucky to receive lotto funding and Children in Need funding but this does not cover all costs. To make up the shortfall we carry out a lot of our own small fund-raising events. “So, when WODYS chose us as their charity for 2012 I was extremely grateful.”

David Humphries, WODYS chairman and producer of Copacabana, said: “We are only too pleased to have New Hope as WODYS charity this year, more especially as we have one of our members’ family involved with the organisation. It is so important to support them in the wonderful work that they do.”

l Copacabana will run at Worcester’s Swan Theatre from Tuesday, July 30, to Saturday, August 3.