How ‘two worlds colliding’ raises thousands of pounds for the local church
WHEN approaching St Andrew’s Church, the grand nineteenth century building on the corner of Wellfield Road, no one would expect it to be the host of an annual festive drag show.
But maybe the first hint that the Roath church may hold something surprising can be seen before even entering the building.
‘All are welcome’ reads a sign at the entrance. It’s an attitude the Reverend Desmond Kitto, 74, lives by.
“We’re here as a hub to serve everyone. We try to serve the whole community, and that includes the LGBTQ+ community,” he said.
Desmond Kitto is Reverend at St Andrew’s URC. Credit: Duncan Welch
The idea for the event was first put forward by entertainers and radio hosts Wayne Courtney, 49, and Nathan Wyburn, 35.
“Me and Wayne had fundraised for the church for years,” Nathan said.
“Usually, we did things like bake sales and rock concerts but one day the Rev Des said they would need quite a big sum of money. We thought we needed to do something drastic, so we decided to get all our drag friends together.”
Rev Kitto said: “In 2018 we had a problem with the leaky roof, so we got together to start doing concerts to raise money.
“One day Nathan and Wayne asked if they could do a Christmas carol concert. They told me it would be a gay evening, a drag event.”
Rev Kitto had no issue with it, but it still needed to be cleared with the church elders.
“Nathan and Wayne were really nervous about floating the idea with them, but they all said ‘fine, no problem’, and we started planning the first show.”
Since then, the event, named Dragged to Church, has just had its seventh year of shows and in that time, it has become what Nathan calls the most bonkers night of the year.
The annual event has become a necessity to keep the church running
“Our first event we raised £2,000 and it’s grown ever since. It got so popular that last year was our first with two shows – and we raised over £14,000,” Rev Kitto said.
The event was even held during the Christmas lockdown in 2020, when large groups could not gather.
“The performers came in and filmed their parts one at a time, then they were all spliced together, and the local gay clubs showed them on big screens,” said Rev Kitto.
This year, the first of the two nights sold around 450 tickets, with the spares offered to NHS staff for free.
The second night was a sell-out, with 500 tickets snapped up as performers put on a show for a full house.
They also held a raffle featuring items donated by local businesses.
The bar was staffed by the Golden Cross and Mary’s Cardiff, two of the city’s LGBTQ+ venues.
Bringing in over £17,000, 2024’s edition has raised the most so far.
The money will be partly used to help make repairs after Storm Darragh struck early in December.
“Our builder told me we’d lost 20 slates and two coping stones from the roof during the storm, so some will go to that,” the Rev Kitto said.
“General maintenance of the church is also costly. Just the insurance is around £10,000 a year, and it’s £1,000 a month to heat the building.”
‘It feels so wrong, maybe it is so wrong, but it’s so, so right’
While a drag event in a church could be seen as controversial, negativity has been limited to only two letters they received when the show first started.
“One was from a person in Newport, saying we’d all be damned for doing it, that we’d all be going to hell,” the Rev Kitto said.
“The other one was from Tommy Robinson saying we shouldn’t be hosting drag in a church. He was in prison at the time.”
The Rev Kitto said the messages of support and appreciation far outweigh any negativity.
“We had one from a young girl and her mother who had been shunned from their church, because she was part of the LGBTQ+ community, and she told us how welcome the event had made her feel.
“The queens all sacrifice a night of their week to do this, when they could easily be out earning money. It means a lot to them too.
“We try to serve the community. If it brings people together and into a church for the first time, how can it be bad?”
Nathan says that at first there were some small teething issues.
“It really is two worlds colliding – Christianity and drag. There has been lots of learning and understanding done on both sides and now we have something which is getting bigger and bigger every year.”
Gary Mullins, 47, is a piano teacher and drag artist who has been performing as Pixie Perez for 25 years. Gary has taken part in the show since its beginning.
“Every year I say not again! When I was first asked, I really struggled. As a Christian and having done the music in church services for years, I thought ‘There’s no way I can do that!’
“It felt so wrong, maybe it is so wrong, but it’s so, so right.”
‘I love the vibrancy, the colour and the naughtiness, because it does get naughty!’
Cardiff drag legend Dr Bev hosted, and in honour of the seventh edition each performer was assigned one of the deadly sins.
Many of the jokes were about topics most would think off limits in a church.
Representing lust, Gigi Spot performed a mash-up of Tom Jones’ Sex Bomb, Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On and Khia’s My Neck, My Back.
Throughout the show there was a Christmas theme, with most artists also performing a seasonal song, and each night finishing with a poem outlining the importance of inclusivity during the festive period.
Chrissy Fudge, 67, was watching for her third year running and is a huge fan of the event.
“I love the vibrancy, the colour and the naughtiness, because it does get naughty!” she said. “It’s just so joyous. And I don’t laugh at them; I laugh with them.”
Huw Cook and his partner missed buying tickets last year due to the high demand, so were attending for the first time.
“It’s quite different, drag in a church, but I think it’s really enjoyable, and it’s clearly very popular,” he said.
Jack Bourton, 25, also known as Marmalade, was a finalist in season six of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. Originally from Pontyclun, he came to both nights.
He said: “It’s my first year coming, but I think it’s just all the best bits of Cardiff drag in one place.
“I’ve been to all of the Cardiff venues and it’s amazing seeing it all condensed into here, and it’s obviously for a great cause.”
The popularity of the event is undeniable, and having just had its most successful year, the unusual marriage between Cardiff’s drag community and Roath’s church on the corner should only grow stronger.
