BBC Children in Need Feed

Merry Christmas to our fundraising Heroes!

2013-12-20T14:15:43+00:00

Ho Ho Ho festive fundraisers! It’s the midst of the Christmas season and hopefully your evenings are full of hearty cheer, baubles and mince pies, all set against a backdrop of angelic carol-singing choirs, Wham!'s Last Christmas and, of course, the legendary Noddy Holder telling you exactly what time of year it is. We’re certainly getting festive here. We’ve got mistletoe and Santa hats and tinsel and all sorts of other goodies. It’s hard not to get totally wrapped up in the festive spirit of giving at Pudsey HQ, as we’re constantly reminded of just how generous and the wonderful people of the UK can be.

One team who showed a generosity which really blew us away was the very good and kind folk at Legal and General, who took to their nationwide fundraising with gusto and raised over £76,000 across the whole business! Legs were waxed, cakes were baked and staff also got stuck into a ‘onesie’ challenge. It’s hard work to wear a onesie all day, but somebody’s got to do it! Not only this, but for every insurance policy sold direct in November, Legal and General gave a donation to Pudsey. Happily, in the end all that hard work really paid off and raised an outstanding amount. As you can see from the photo below of the glorious Cardiff team, the team look like they all had an ace time.

L&G staff get stuck into their onesie challenge!

The below photo was sent to us from Rebecca, a staff member at Brighton and Hove High School, and shows two happy pupils having some Pudsey-themed fun! Junior Head Sian told us a little bit about the exciting in-school fundraising that took place in November: “This year for BBC Children in Need the girls in year 4 at Brighton and Hove High School Juniors, an independent girls school, organised a special fundraising event. They rallied parents, staff and pupils to take part in a number of activities. Girls came dressed in spots and enjoyed a delicious cake sale. In total the girls, with a little bit of support from family and friends, raised over £700.” A huge well done from Pudsey and the team to everyone who helped out.

Pupils from Brighton and Hove High School had a great fundraising event!

The whole team here at Pudsey HQ was delighted to hear once again from a group of fundraisers who organised one of our favourite fundraising events of the 2013 Appeal. Staff at Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospital held a 24-hour CPR-a-thon! The team took it in turns, via 15-minute shifts, to administer CPR to a mannequin for a whole day. Senior Resuscitation Officer Vicky, who helped to organise the event, described the day to us:

“We had families come in and their children participating alongside grandparents and they were all there to raise money for this great cause. We had people come back in during the night after working a full day just to take part alongside massive support from the Fire Service for the majority of the event. We never had a moment during the whole 24 hours when we were on our own and it is down to the commitment from our staff that this was possible. Pudsey was a brilliant addition to this and the children and adults alike were so excited to see him and have their picture taken, he even closed the event by doing the last lot of CPR!”

When Pudsey's not busy fundraising, it seems like he's picked up a few hidden skills - we never knew he could do CPR! It sounds like the event was a huge success, and the best bit of all – it raised over £3,000 for disadvantaged children and young people at over 2700 projects all across the UK. Amazing work guys, you should be very proud!

Ready, steady, resuscitate! Staff get ready for the CPR-a-thon!

And finally, as we’re coming up to Christmas, we want to say a big Merry Christmas to all of our fundraisers and thank you all for making this a record-breaking year!

Did you do something amazing this year? Or perhaps you’ve got something big planned for next year that you’d like to tell us about? Either way, we’d like to hear about it! To get in touch and tell us about all your fundraising, simply email your local address on this page, and tag us @BBCCiN on Twitter and Instagram or @Pudsey Bear on Facebook. It’s easy. So go, help us celebrate a great 2013!

Who You Help: projects in Brighton

2013-03-26T15:36:15+00:00

The weather may still be far too cold for a dip in the sea, but we're not letting that stop us from visiting Brighton in our whistle-stop round-the-UK tour of projects that your donations are helping to support.

As a result of the incredible total of £26,757,446 that was raised on November’s Appeal night, BBC Children in Need is delighted to be able to make grants totalling £158,321 to projects in Brighton supporting disadvantaged children and young people in the first "grant round" of 2013.

Sadie (left) and Bethany were brought together by the befriending service 'Fun In Action'

One project in Brighton currently benefitting from a BBC Children in Need grant is Fun in Action, a befriending service which matches an adult volunteer to a child or young person from a disadvantaged lone parent family. The service helps to relieve pressure on families whilst providing a caring relationship for the child or young person.

Bethany, 11 and Sadie have been befrienders for over four years. Beth is a young carer, so during the time she and Sadie spend together, she can just be herself. They do lots of different activities, like growing vegetables on the allotment, bike riding and picnics on the beach. Sadie sees a real difference in Beth, as each week she grows in confidence.

Sadie says: “I really enjoy spending time with Bethany. She's great fun to be with, always really enthusiastic and ready to try new things. It's great to be Bethany's 'big sister' and be a bit of a kid again!”

Amongst the projects in Brighton receiving grants in this round is The Link Up Project, who have been awarded a three year grant of £29,831 to provide activities such as water sports, ice-skating and horse riding to disabled children and young people to help them meet others in similar situations.

Who You Help: other projects in the South East

Meet children you help in other areas across the UK

Peter Andre's Brighton Tea Party

2012-10-17T10:34:14+00:00

Here at BBC Children in Need, we're always delighted when people decide to fundraise for us. One of the most popular ways that people raise money is via Cake Sales and Tea Parties - so when our old friend Peter Andre got in touch and told us that he wanted to hold a special Tea Party to raise money for us, we were thrilled.

Peter wants everyone to host tea parties to raise money for BBC Children in Need

Peter transformed his Brighton cafe into a Pudsey-themed tea party for the day - and invited along some very special local children and their parents to be his guests at the party.

"You wouldn't think the area where I live, or indeed where many of us live around the UK, has problems like this," said Peter.

"But the stories of social deprivation, poverty and how people are struggling aren't coming from a Third World country. They are right here. I wanted to celebrate the good work BBC Children In Need does and give people who really need it a good day out."

Young people, children and parents from projects in Brighton that receive BBC Children in Need funding came along to the party. Having fun were people from The Young Carers' Centre, The Crew Club, Fun in Action for Children, Brighton Unemployed Centre's Families Project, and the Brighton and Hove Integration Project.

We'd like to say a huge thank you to Peter for hosting the party - you're a true gentleman! Why not follow in Peter's footsteps and organise your own tea party to raise money for BBC Children in Need? Read our guide at how to throw a Cake Sale, and if you haven't done so already, why not order your FREE fundraising pack?