Generous pantomime audiences raised more than £18,000 for good causes at Cambridge Arts Theatre’s spectacular production of Cinderella.

The money was raised through bucket collections, and this year's total was £3,000 up on the previous year's panto.

The charities that benefitted from the audiences' generosity are Cambridge Joint Playschemes, The Laughter Specialists, Headway Cambridgeshire, Macmillan Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital Paediatric Music Therapy, Prostate Cancer UK, Royal Society for Blind Children, and the theatre's in-house charity Panto Wheels.

This scheme enables students from disadvantaged areas and those with special educational needs to experience a trip to the pantomime.

Kat Collins, head of sales and marketing at Cambridge Arts Theatre, said: "We are all delighted with the amount of money our audiences have raised this year, particularly as funds managed to surpass last year's total.

"The selected charities will benefit immensely and are extremely grateful of our audiences' generosity.

"From the theatre staff and the Cinderella company, we extend a huge thank you to everyone who donated across the pantomime season."

Money raised by Panto Wheels enabled 4,353 school children to come and see Cinderella, subsidising both travel expenditure and ticket cost.

This winter a total of 50 schools from Cambridgeshire attended the panto.