About Us

FLIPPIN’ ECK CHILDREN’S MUSICALS sells musicals to raise money to support AIDS Orphans in Zimbabwe.

The business was set up by musicals writer, Linda Kirby, ex-primary school special needs co-ordinator, local councillor and writer for the Colour House Children's Theatre in London SW19.

Linda says: “Self-esteem and confidence can improve dramatically when children are given the chance to perform. That special moment, when a child gets a chance to shine, will be remembered by them for the rest of their lives. That’s how important it is.

Hundreds of children have enjoyed taking part in or watching these musicals. My aim is to share the pleasure of theatre with these reasonably priced musicals; to raise awareness of the problems facing children with HIV/Aids in Africa; and to encourage groups to link to projects in Africa and develop relationships with these communities, directly.”

In Zimbabwe over 1,300 000 people are living with HIV and 890,000 children  orphaned by AIDS. Flippin' Eck is linked to MASHAMBANZOU CARE TRUST, an AIDS orphan project in Zimbabwe that has an excellent track record of delivering support. All profits are donated to their work.

Linda’s first musical, Our Daily Bread,  was written for her daughter and friends as a puppet show. They had such a good time with it that she got a bit bolder and wrote a musical for her primary school. Since then Linda has written 11 musicals for children to perform, 13 for adults to perform to children plus 7 adult musicals, two performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and the others staged at Merton’s Abbeyfest.

"In 2005, I wrote Nelson’s Paradise Merton for nine schools in Merton to perform at the New Wimbledon Theatre to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Nelson’s death. The project included Wimbledon School of Art doing the scenery, the Merton Music Foundation directing the choir of 200 children and Polka Children’s Theatre directing the drama. The musical was a terrific success."

Inspired by all this and having written all this material, it seemed a shame not to share it. So Linda took early retirement from teaching to set up Flippin’ Eck Children’s Musicals to support AIDS orphans.

Special thanks to the following for help with the production

Cover designs: Leah Johnson, Richard Roberts & Joe Morgan
Gary Farmer – Logo
Curriculum Links: Geraldine Stanford
Links with AIDS orphans: Paul Chitnis and Ashleigh Callow of the Jesuits Mission, Wimbledon www.jesuitmissions.org.uk.
Musical Scores: Transcribing – Paul Campbell and Tom Carradine
Moral support and a constant listening ear: Andrew Judge