Tickets are selling fast for a charity Christmas gala night starring celebrity guest Jerome Flynn.

Kandu Arts, a charity that works with disadvantaged people, is organising the event at the Neeld Hall, in Chippenham, on December 21 to raise funds for its next project.

It plans to take a group of children in care to New Zealand for a holiday of a lifetime next Easter.

Mr Flynn, of Soldier, Soldier television fame, is patron of the project and hopes he will be able to travel with the children on the trip.

At the variety night this Christmas Mr Flynn will be performing extracts from his West End show Jus Like That!, which portrays the life of comic magician Tommy Cooper. There will also be a selection of bands on the night and street acrobatics from Skate Naked of Bath who will be performing stunts in the intervals.

Gracie Redfern of Kandu Arts said they had already sold more than half the tickets and were confident the rest would sell in the coming weeks.

"We would like to appeal to local shops and businesses who have not organised a Christmas party yet to get tickets and come along. It is a few days before Christmas so it is the ideal thing to do," she said.

The charity will be holding a number of fundraising events for the trip. The trip will cost an estimated £34,500 and Kandu hopes to take ten to 12 young people and five to seven adults.

Some of the young people selected to go on the trip have already been fund-raising through sponsored bike rides. North Wiltshire District Council Area Three committee has also granted the project £500.

Once in New Zealand the children will be taken to meet Maori communities and swim with dolphins. Kandu also plans to put on a series of plays about the young people's experience of life.

Tickets for the Christmas show are £15 and are on sale at The Pack Horse (01249) 443160 and The Neeld Hall (01249) 446699.