Doncaster Britain's Got Talent star Colin "Fingers" Henry retires after cancer fight

Colin “Fingers” Henry, who played the piano while balancing on his head, has spoken of his battle with the disease and his decision to step away from the limelight at the age of 74.

And he has also paid tribute to Doncaster cancer support charity Firefly, who the Free Press has linked up with for a £25,000 fundraising campaign, for helping him through his health battle.

It’s been more than 50 years since Colin learned to play the piano standing on his head – a trick that earned him worldwide renown.

And despite two bouts of serious illness since hitting his 70s, he’s now back performing again – albeit gentler performances at local care homes after deciding to bring down the curtain on his stage career.

Colin talked to Free Press reporter Dur-e-Sheywaar Ahmed about his life and career – and his gratitude for the cancer charity that supported him at his lowest ebb.

Four years ago, Colin feared he would never play the piano again, let alone stand on his head.

He'd undergone a serious stroke and recuperation period that severely dented the confidence of this celebrated comedian, performer, and entertainer - well known for a colourful and sparkling career.

Sitting at his kitchen table, surrounded by family photos and photos of his showbiz days, Colin explained: “After some time of practising the piano lightly and regaining my skills, I am now doing miles better.

“But there comes a certain time when you have to pack it all in. I realised this after suffering my stroke, which made it difficult for me to perform. It really shook my confidence.”

Not that Colin has given up performing completely.

“This hasn’t affected my love for performing,” he said. “I still play in care homes such as The Old Rectory in Armthorpe and for charities such as Doncaster Hospice.”

He expressed: “There is no feeling like putting on a good show and getting laughs, but it all comes to an end; it has to, but I carry on performing a few shows, just to keep my hands in playing piano.”

Despite all his success, Colin didn’t let work distract him from his family - he speaks lovingly of his wife, Jennifer, and children.

‘I’m very much a family man, and we’ve been married for 57 years and brought up a lovely family,” he added.

He continued: ‘I’ve got a son up in New Zealand and one who used to be a professional footballer for Doncaster Rovers, Nicky Limber.

"And after my stroke, my daughter insisted I live opposite her. I’m very blessed’.

He speaks about his retirement and said: “I used to do a lot of playing golf, I used to be a part of the celebrity tour, where they used to do charity days all over the country with big celebrities and sport stars, but I had to pack it in. I just lost interest in the sport.”

He continues: “Now two days a week, I do voluntary gardening at the church, just to keep me fit and it’s really good for my hands, which helps me play piano, so that’s one thing I enjoy doing now.”

He reflected that ‘there comes a time where you have to say I’ve had a good career, thank you very much, but it’s time to go. I love performing, and after my stroke, I remember feeling so depressed that I couldn't play, but Jennifer told me ‘you bloody well will!”

He said: “She’s been a huge support for me after my stroke, in my career, and in my life. She would help me play one key at a time when I thought I’d never play again. I remember looking at the keys and realising I might never play again, but she always knew I would.”

He expressed his gratitude to Firefly, a Doncaster-based non-profit cancer awareness organisation providing free transport to cancer patients from Doncaster to regional treatment centres and hospitals in Sheffield, the Weston Park Cancer Centre.

He said: ‘It really helped take the stress off after being given some devastating news that I had prostate cancer. It can be a lot fighting an illness and then also having to figure out travel and the stress of driving on top of that; it’s mentally exhausting, and Firefly helped me out so much that I want more people to know about them.”

He added: “I wanted to make it public from me what a wonderful service they have.”

He continued: “If there’s one piece of advice I can give to anyone, it’s don’t be frightened to get checked out. If it is caught early, it is very easily treatable and worth getting checked out as it can be a symptomless disease.”

Now the question is: how did he learn how to do such a spectacular feat of playing the piano while balanced on his head?

Colin revealed: “One day I was just having a jam session. In my band playing days, one of the guitarists would play the guitar with his arms behind his back, and I thought, ‘what is there that I can do with a piano? I know, I’ll play it standing on my head to surprise my bandmates as only a bit of fun. I didn’t know how successful it would be.”

He continued: “Going on Britain's Got Talent was never the plan - they called me up and asked me to audition, and it turned out to be brilliant. Meeting Ant and Dec and the whole panel, the audience loved it, which felt really good.”

He appeared on the show in 2018 but failed to land a place in the grand final.

Pursuing a solo career after leaving his band days with The Travellers in Zambia, Colin has racked up many accolades in his career as a comedian and pianist.

Colin achieved formidable success in the entertainment industry, performing in every theatre in the UK, up and down the country, such as the Alhambra in Bradford and the Crucible in Sheffield, as well as travelling around the world, performing on cruise ships across Europe to Scandinavia and Australia.

‘I loved performing on cruise ships; it was one of the highlights of my career, performing my act and meeting many different celebrities such as Norman Wisdom. My act was to create comedic stories and entertain everyone, and I am very nostalgic for it.”

Yet Colin has achieved so much more than just that in his career, from working with celebrities like Marti Caine, a fellow New Faces winner, to much-loved comic star Norman Wisdom, well-known for his comedy films in the 1950s and late 1960s.

He speaks fondly of Marti Caine and said: “She won the whole series and became a star overnight, and when she got signed up by the big agencies in London, they booked me to go with her as a support act for the summer seasons, and I’m glad I had the pleasure of working with her.”

Sitting in Colin's home, around the pictures of his family and career, it was obvious he had an lengthy and glittering career as a stand-up comedian and pianist, but it was even more obvious he was prouder of his family.

Above all, Colin wanted to humbly pay his respects to Firefly, using his platform so more people would be aware of this service.

Click HERE to watch Colin's Britain’s Got Talent audition, playing piano on his head.

And you can offer your support to Firefly by backing our £25,000 Doncaster Free Press Mission Firefly campaign.

Your Doncaster Free Press is counting on you, our readers, to dig deep and support the organisation which provides vital transport for cancer patients across Doncaster and beyond with our Mission Firefly campaign.

Founded in 2006 by the late Denise Dunn following her own cancer battle, the Firefly Express provides FREE transport to local cancer patients and their families across the city to regional treatment centres using a team of volunteer drivers.

But delivering such a vital service doesn’t come cheap – and that’ why we are calling on you, our readers, to back our fantastic fundraising campaign.

We need your help to fund a new £25,000 vehicle for Firefly.

And we want you to tell us all about what you are doing to raise funds too!

We want to raise a whopping £25,000 so Firefly can purchase a new, second hand vehicle to add or a replace a vehicle in its fleet and keep its much-needed and essential service running.

Drivers work hard – and the vehicles work even harder, clocking up thousands of miles each year, zipping patients and their families across the region for treatment.

The project, now in the hands of Denise’s partner Ian Bacchus and friend Paul Taylor following her death in 2014, is determined to keep its fleet of vehicles running – and our campaign aims to boost their service even more.

Ian, known as Chewy, said: “The Firefly Express vehicles provide free transport to local cancer patients and their families in the borough of Doncaster to regional treatment hospitals, using our fantastic team of volunteer drivers.

"We currently have a fleet of 12 vehicles to cope with the ever-increasing requirements.

"Firefly help local people in their time of need, making a difficult time a little easier.

“Firefly is about life – living it to the full, and enjoying every second of it.

"We want to remove the stigma and embarrassment of personal cancer problems in young men and women, giving them the confidence to communicate with friends, family and health professionals should the occasion arise.”

He added: “Using our personal experiences, we are determined to change the journey for cancer patients while raising awareness, particularly amongst young people, to spot the signs before it advances.”

We want to raise enough cash so Firefly can purchase a new or replacement seven seat vehicle to keep the trips up and running, with the vehicle fleet doing as much as 6,000 miles a week.

A huge team of 70 volunteer drivers can carry as many as 80 patients a day – and a dedicated maintenance team make sure the vehicles are kept in tip top shape. Trips from Doncaster head to treatment centres in Sheffield such as Weston Park, The Royal Hallamshire and Northern General – with drivers whisking patients from their doors straight to the hospital, before returning them home afterwards.

For more information about Firefly and all the great work they do, visit https://www.firefly-support.co.uk/

All you have to do is scan in the QR codein this story to make your donation and get the ball rolling on our campaign to buy a new vehicle for Firefly.

So get scanning, get donating and do your bit to help support our campaign and a fantastic Doncaster charity.

And if you are organising a fundraising event, please contact our campaign reporter Darren Burke via [email protected] and we’ll give you a shout out to your fundraising efforts.