Full Monty Sheffield: Tickets sell out for charity strip night by Parsons Cross dad and his team of scaffolders

Matt Shepherd, aged 33, and his construction crew are ready to bare all on stage at an adults-only fundraising night on July 15 at Colley Working Men’s Club, Parson Cross.

The strapping lads will pull off their own spin on the iconic comedy film’s routine in a night supported by DJs, topless waiters and drag artists.

“They’re just six normal lads who wanted to do something out there to raise some money,” said Matt’s partner Emma Webster.

“They’re hard at work on their rehearsals. They did a little video just for me to show how they were getting on and they’ve smashed it out the park.

“We sold out on all 250 tickets in just three weeks. We’ve been overwhelmed by the support.”

The fun-filled evening will raise thousands of pounds in honour of Matt and Emma’s little girl Lillia, 5, who has the progressive and life-limiting mitochondrial disease known as Leigh syndrome.

The hardworking couple from Parson Cross have raised just under £3,000 for mitochondrial disease support charity My Mito Mission since they were given Lillia’s diagnosis last October.

Emma said: “Lillia has been kind of a wonderful mystery since she was six months old.

“When she was five months old we noticed she had rapid eye movement. After that it was tests upon tests upon tests. We never got a firm answer.

“As she grew older she also couldn’t communicate or walk, and she is severely sight impaired.

“Last October we finally got a diagnosis of mitochondrial disease. Really, it has been a very hard, long road to get answers. But you cannot prepare yourself for it.”

Currently, there is no cure or treatment for Lillia’s mitochondrial disease. It is a rare, progressive and life-limiting condition.

"Knowing there’s no treatment is really hard on the family,” said Emma. “She has an eight-year-old brother who idolizes her.”

Since then, Emma and Matt have been fundraising for My Mito Mission. Through bucket rattles, a JustGiving page and merchandise, the brave couple has raised just under £3,000 for the cause.

The condition is so rare the charity only has 13 cases on its books across the country, and Lillia is the only known case in South Yorkshire.

“There just isn’t much awareness for the disease out there,” said Emma. “We want to raise awareness and raise funds so that someone one day can find a cure.”

Now, Matt and his friends are hard at work to make their Full Monty night a knock out.

The lads have already sold all 250 tickets available for £10 a pop. With a charity raffle also planned, they are expecting to raise another £3,000 altogether.

It comes as filming is underway for a TV revival of the classic 90s film.

The series, produced by Disney+, will reunite The Full Monty cast 25 years after the Sheffield-based comedy became a box office smash hit.

The 1997 film followed a group of unemployed former steelworkers who became strippers for a night to earn cash.

Makers of the spin-off TV series, announced in March, said it will follow the original characters as they ‘navigate the post-industrial city of Sheffield and society’s crumbling healthcare, education and employment sectors’.

To read more about Lillia’s story, visit her JustGiving page.