June Evans was born on January 5, 1940 in Jericho in Oxford - the same area as her younger brother Steve.

She went to St Barnabas church school in Jericho and aged 20 was married to Daniel (Danny) Surrage and became Mrs June Surrage.

June and her husband Danny both worked at the Apollo Theatre in Oxford for many years until Danny passed away in 1989, age 54, from a sudden heart attack.

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They have two daughters, Debbie, born in 1972, and Jenny born in 1977, who gave June three grandchildren each.

June’s daughters grew up performing in many shows at the Apollo Theatre and in the mid 1980s the couple decided to start their own theatre group, which grew into a well-established stage school called Sparkle Stage Set.

The stage school had lessons every Sunday and put on many productions for over 20 years at venues in and around Oxfordshire, including The Old Fire Station and the Oxford Playhouse on several occasions.

Oxford Mail:

As well as regularly entertaining the elderly at many care homes, the school also performed at fetes and won the best children’s float prize for several years at the Lord Mayor's Parade.

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Sparkle Stage Set started at Headington community centre in Gladstone Road with lessons every Sunday from 1pm to 6pm where children were able to take part in singing, dancing and acting with professional teachers who travelled from London every Sunday.

After about six years, due to a rent increase, Sparkle moved to Risinghurst community centre where they stayed for more than 11 years for Sunday classes and rehearsals for shows, as the school tried to put on at least one musical a year and a pantomime at Christmas.

The school also had a strong connection with Oxford City Council who arranged for the children to record two songs which were professionally written and produced for Oxford in Bloom in 1997, which were then performed at a special showcase in the Westgate Centre. Then, in 1998, Sparkle travelled to Holland, as part of the council’s twinning programme with Leiden. This was a huge success and the stage school was invited to repeat the experience with Bonn in Germany.

Oxford Mail:

After June’s husband Danny passed away, she decided to carry on with Sparkle as so many children enjoyed their Sundays going to the school.

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She also set up her own entertainment agency, which ran alongside the stage school and from that many children and adults appeared in TV and films including Inspector Morse, the Harry Potter films and many others. June was a licensed chaperone for many years and she chaperoned many children in various TV and theatre productions including Daniel Radcliffe for the filming of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

June loved everything she did with Sparkle and was very proud of how successful it became.

Some children even went on to perform professionally. The stage school was never a profit-making business - in fact much of the time June was putting her own money in but finally Sparkle stopped ‘entertaining’ after more than 20 years due to lack of funds.

June was diagnosed with dementia about eight years ago, and died at home on June 8, aged 82. She was a much loved, inspiring woman who gave hundreds of children her time and became a ‘second mum’ to many.

The funeral takes place on Tuesday, July 12 at St Barnabas Church in Jericho at 10.30am. Anyone who knew June is invited to attend.

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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF