You can help our sons and all of our children, live locally, safely and free from abuse and prejudice.
Remind me again?!
We’ve been in touch with Buxton Opera House repeatedly since 2019 to try and make them understand the damage a performer like Jimmy Carr does to our son and his community. They haven’t taken us seriously, deny they are responsible for giving prejudice and discrimination a platform, and instead think it’s acceptable to host a performer who ridicules people with dwarfism with jokes such as ‘Is a dwarf an abortion that made it?” Hopefully you wouldn’t like that said about your child or your friends. Whilst we love a joke, we don’t class that as a joke in the slightest. We’d really appreciate you taking a few moments to add some weight to our voice towards Buxton Opera House.
Jimmy Carr doesn’t just ridicule people with dwarfism though. The performer you see on mild humoured Channel 4 programmes has some appalling material in his live act. Material such as that which pokes fun at people with Down’s Syndrome, belittles child abuse and much more.
Last time we asked people to complain, Buxton Opera House denied they recieved any. We know this isn’t true as many of you showed us the response you had received from them to your complaints.
As Buxton Opera House have denied recieving any complaints, we’re aiming to gather proof of numbers so we can present this to the relevent authorities that govern and fund the management company.
What can I do to help?
We know your time is precious. We’ve made it as easy as we can for you to help us and we’d be forever grateful if you could help. It should take only a couple of minutes of your time. Firstly, as a minimum, simply sign the petition below (don’t forget to confirm your email or it won’t count).
Then, please follow up by copying and pasting the appropriate template letter below (depending on whether you’ve complained before of whether this is your first time) into an email or a physical letter, add your name and sent it to the contacts listed below. Thank you!
Petition
We have now closed this petition as it has been sent to Buxton Opera House.
Thank you to all who signed it for your support. Please feel free to contact Buxton Opera House directly to object to them hosting Jimmy Carr.
Template letters and contacts (click the boxes to open)
For those who HAVE previously complained - Copy and paste this template letter (feel free to edit it).
To the Board of Trustees and Buxton Opera House Management Team,
RE Jimmy Carr being hosted at Buxton Opera House again.
Having expressed my objections to you around this performer and his material previously, I am shocked to have been made aware that you have not taken these concerns seriously and have even tried to claim that no objections about this performer have been made in the past. This is certainly not the way I would expect a local charitable organisation to operate.
As I have already made you aware, I am friends/family of Archie. I must express my deep regret that you have not engaged with his family constructively, nor taken the concerns of other who have complained to you seriously. Archie’s family are working hard to give him and his wider community a safe and positive upbringing. I am dismayed that as an organisation, you are actively encouraging discrimination to those with dwarfism such as Archie by continuing to give a platform to Mr Carr. I stand by Archie and his family and object to Buxton Opera House giving a platform to performers who contribute to the discrimination that Archie and his community face. We face this together and I stand with them. We do not want to hear material such as ‘Is a dwarf an abortion that made it’ within our community and we do not want to hear that those with short stature within our community face ridicule and abuse due to material performed at your venue.
I urge you to decline Mr Carr’s request to use your venue in future.
As a members of the community in which you serve, I also expect that you take this, and all other complaints, seriously.
You should note that I do not consent to you passing my details to Mr Carr’s team. My complaint is specifically with Buxton Opera House management allowing discrimination in the guise of comedy within our community and the negative effects that the decision has on members of that community.
I look forward to you answering all of the questions put to you by Archie’s family in full. I also look forward to your update and hope that as an organisation, you see the opportunity that a more engaged and pro-active approach to this issue can bring.
Regards,
[Insert name here]
For those who HAVE NOT previously complained - Copy and paste this template letter (feel free to edit it).
To the Board of Trustees and Buxton Opera House Management Team,
I write to you in relation to your decision to allow Jimmy Carr to perform at your venue in June. As a friend/family member of Archie, I wish to object that you are, despite previous complaints from other members of the community, allowing Mr Carr to perform in our local area.
Archie’s family are working hard to give him and his wider community a safe and positive upbringing. I am dismayed that as an organisation, you are actively encouraging discrimination to those with dwarfism such as Archie by continuing to give a platform to Mr Carr. I stand by Archie and his family and object to Buxton Opera House giving a platform to performers who contribute to the discrimination that Archie and his community face. We face this together and I stand with them. We do not want to hear material such as ‘Is a dwarf an abortion that made it’ within our community and we do not want to hear that those with short stature within our community face ridicule and abuse due to material performed at your venue.
I urge you to decline Mr Carr’s request to use your venue in future.
As a member of the community in which you serve, I also expect that you take this complaint, and all other complaints, seriously.
You should note that I do not consent to you passing our details to Mr Carr’s team. My complaint is specifically with Buxton Opera House management allowing discrimination in the guise of comedy within our community and the negative effects that the decision has on members of that community.
I look forward to you answering all of the questions put to you by Archie’s family in full. I also look forward to your update and hope that as an organisation, you see the opportunity that a more engaged and pro-active approach to this issue can bring.
Regards,
[Insert name here]
Send it to these people as minimum...
The Board of Trustees C/O
Email: admin@boh.org.uk
CustomerService@boh.org.uk
Head of Operations:
Jonathan Thompson
Email: jthompson@boh.org.uk
Head of Programming:
Sarah Kell
Email: skell@boh.org.uk
Head of Finance:
Susanne Howe
Email: showe@boh.org.uk
Leader of High Peak Borough Council:
Cllr Anthony McKeown
Anthony.Mckeown@highpeak.gov.uk
Mayor of High Peak:
Cllr Ollie Cross
ollie.cross@highpeak.gov.uk
Deputy Leader & Executive Councillor for Regeneration, Tourism and Leisure:
Cllr Damien Greenhalgh
damien.greenhalgh@highpeak.gov.uk
Leader of Derbyshire County Council:
Barry Lewis
barry.lewis@derbyshire.gov.uk
Buxton Opera House address and phone number:
Tel : 01298 72190.
Address:
Buxton Opera House
Water Street
Buxton
Derbyshire
SK17 6XN
Please keep us posted how you get on. Thank you again, we really appreciate your help.
Know someone who would like to help?
If you know someone who could help us then please feel free to share this page. Of course, if you want to get in touch with people yourselves about this then please do, as long as it’s in good spirit we’d appreciate all the help we can get. Thank you.