Charity comedy evening with Jon Richardson has raised thousands of pounds for St John's Hospice

The show went direct to everyone’s homes, streaming two hours of comedy and star appearances.

The evening saw a combined audience of 114,000 across the streaming website and social media platforms.

The amount raised so far is over £30,000 with donations still coming in.

The UK audience saw popular viewing from Lancaster, Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, Leeds, Lytham, Bury, Salford, Blackburn and London.

The show even stretched worldwide with viewers joining in from the USA, Ireland , France, Australia, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Canada and Switzerland.

The fabulous line up included appearances from Dave Gorman, Jack Whitehall, Lee Ridley of Britain's Got Talent fame, Tez Ilyas, Justin Moorhouse, Harriet Dyer, Bethany Black, Russell Kane, Josh Widecombe, Jason Manford, art by Amy Coney, time with Lisa Goodwin-Allen who is the Executive Chef at the Michelin Star Northcote manor restaurant, music from Badly Drawn Boy, the Lancashire Hotpots, a sports star quiz, time with Kim Cattrall of ‘Sex and the City’ fame and more.

Jon Richardson was also raising money for Community Foundation for Lancashire COVID-19 Fund, NHS Charities Together, music therapy charity, Nordoff Robbins and United We Stream Solidarity Fund, as well as St John's Hospice.

The work of Artist Amy Coney, famed for the We Stand Together of the bee also featured on the evening.

Amy produced a bespoke piece of art, which linked Lancashire and Greater Manchester as one, with images to represent the colourful personalities and comedy that is bringing people together.

This beautiful piece of art is now available to win via a raffle with tickets at only £3 each.

The prize draw for Amy Coney’s artwork runs until July 3, so this fundraising campaign will continue over the next six weeks via https://www.sjhospice.org.uk/shop/hospice-competitions/amy-coney-bespoke-original-artwork-raffle/.

Lisa Goodwin-Allen’s famous spoon, which made the eccles cakes is also in the raffle page along with a signed DVD from Jon.

Catherine Butterworth, director of income generation said:“We can’t thank Jon Richardson and his friends enough for all the work they put in to make this livestream event come together. It was such a great evening and we have had tremendous feedback.

“Jon has long been a loyal supporter of St John’s and this love for the hospice shines through everything he does to raise funds for us.

“Emma Young from Lancaster was a stalwart throughout this; she used her creativity, drive and 14 hour days to help make this happen.

"I also worked as a production assistant to Emma to make this happen - this was definitely a learning curve for me!”

Emma Young said: “The reason I offered to help Jon move his annual event online was because, like Jon, St John’s Hospice is very close to my heart and I try to support them as much as I can.

“St John’s Hospice looked after my mum at the end of her life and are absolutely amazing, making the darkest time for my family a little more bearable, through the compassionate care of the nurses and the incredible support you feel when you’re there.

"We remained by my mum’s side for a number of weeks and the staff were fantastic, my dad was able to sleep there overnight and my sister and I stayed with her during the day so she was never alone.

"Having experienced the loss of my mum and feeling that need to be with her as much as possible in her final few weeks, I find it particularly heart-breaking that families currently have these restrictions on seeing their loved ones due to social distancing and shielding measures. It is just awful.

"The passion, commitment and determination of the staff at St John’s is what makes it such an incredible place."

If you missed the live stream you can watch a recording of it here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnitedWeStreamGM/videos/2878727072203004/?vh=e.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1jMKgQBWaZWJL.