Wesley Laing Productions raises funds for FaNs Network

Wesley Laing, 23, of Clacton, is the technical director and owner of Wesley Laing Productions which put on a spooky and charitable horror maze on November 2 at Hills Self Storage, in Colchester Business Centre.

The business, which opened in 2021, provides sound and lighting hire for theatrical and live music productions – Wesley built up the business whilst working as a full-time theatre technician at the Mercury Theatre.

Business owner - Wesley Laing from Clacton (Image: Wesley Laing Productions) The production company wanted to raise funds for The FaNs Network – an organisation which helps people in care homes stay connected with the wider community across Essex.

After months of preparation, the after dark horror maze experience which was held on Saturday evening, and all proceeds from ticket sales went to the charity.

The experience took place in collaboration with Hills Self Storage, which the production company operates out of, and brave explorers navigated the depths of a basement in a self-storage facility now controlled by a gang and their victims.

Creepy - a section of the maze (Image: Wesley Laing Productions) Wesley said: “The event was a great success with positive reviews, feedback and screams in all the right places, we had a constant flow of brave members of the public for a good few hours.

“We had a total of around 80 people braving the experience.”

In total there were six scare actors and Wesley, his team, and the Hills Self Storage team were in the background and front of house, to ensure the event ran “smoothly.”

Wesley has praised the team, he said: “All of the team involved including the cast had a really good experience, for many of us this was the first time doing anything like this.

“So, we really invested on what each person could bring into the event, but the bulk of the heavy lifting went to our amazing cast of volunteer actors, who didn’t stop the scares drop throughout the night.

Atmospheric - a scare actor in the maze (Image: Wesley Laing Productions) “A huge thanks to everyone involved as this event wouldn’t have been possible without everyone we had involved.

“Raising just over £460.00 for the charity is a great achievement, one that we are all very proud of.

“It is heart-warming that through all the hard work, it paid off for a good cause.”

Moving forwards, the business will run its “very first musical production that will take to the stage in August” next year.

To find out more about Wesley Laing Productions, visit wesleylaingproductions.co.uk.