Thieves steal £2,000 of dance costumes for Morningside show

A DEVASTATED dance teacher has pleaded for help in finding £2,000 worth of children's costumes stolen in her car.

Dance teacher Andrea Mannion's car and £2,000 worth of costumes were taken from outside her home.

Many of the outfits taken from outside Andrea Mannion’s Port Seton home are more than 20 years-old and irreplaceable.

But Andrea is determined the annual Morningside show she puts on with 65 young stars from her school must go on.

“I won’t let the children down,” said Andrea, 49. “They’ve been working on the show since last month and it’s not an option to cancel - I won’t give in.”

Andrea Mannion whose car was stolen outside her house with kids' costumes in for an upcoming show.

The widowed mother-of-two was woken at the home she shares with her two sons at 5am last Monday to find the door forced open and car keys taken.

“I heard a cat screeching and so we went downstairs to see what was happening,” said Andrea, a dance teacher for 19 years.

“The back door was open and there were cat hairs everywhere and the car was taken off the drive.

“I don’t know whether a cat followed them in and they’ve kicked it on the way out.”

Andrea Mannion whose car was stolen outside her house with kids' costumes in for an upcoming show.

Andrea’s dark grey £12,000 Kia was missing, along with bags of costumes and accessories for her Musselburgh-based dance school.

“There were bags of fairy wings and wands and all sorts of things worth hundreds and hundreds of pounds that I’ve collected for over 20 years,” said Andrea.

“Some of it has sentimental value. I borrowed some off a retired dance teacher and others my mum made.

“Other stuff was valuable with some sold off by STV when their studio closed down.”

Two ipod classics which Andrea uses for music during ballet and modern jazz rehearsals for three to 18 year-olds at Musselburgh East Community Learning Centre were also taken.

Yet the movie-themed annual show at Church Hill Theatre, Morningside, will go ahead as planned on June 10.

“Some of the costumes are irreplaceable - certainly in ten weeks - it’ll be all hands on deck. Luckily, I’d taken some out midweek,” she said.

“The children are really upset, particularly the younger ones - to see their little faces when they were asking where the teddy was the one who’d done well got to take home for a week.”

Bonnyrigg office manager and mother-of-two, Sharon Laing, has been taking daughter Samantha, 15, to Andrea’s dance school since the age of three.

“Andrea is not only a teacher to the kids but a friend and mentor and the annual show she produces is a delight and a credit to her and all her students.

“Together with her mum, she works endlessly making costumes for the show and for these to have been stolen is devastating, especially with the show only three months away.

“Hopefully someone will come forward and return these.”

Anyone who may have seen Andrea’s Kia Cee’d - registration H20KEM - can contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.