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Rosie Perkins

Spread a Smile Golf Days – 8th & 9th September

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Booking is now live for the 2022 Spread a Smile golf days on Thursday 8th and Friday 9th September, returning after much demand to the stunning Melbourne Course at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire.

To book a team, please email rosie@spreadasmile.org. We are limited to 24 teams per day, so do get in touch to avoid missing out. 

Sponsorship is so important to the success of all of our events, and we hope you might consider taking on one of our sponsorship packages, starting from £250 for tee sponsorship (please email for more information). Please know that by increasing your support, you will be helping us to spread many more smiles to seriously ill and hospitalised children.

We very much hope to see you in September, to experience our unique Spread a Smile hospitality and magic!

Join Team Smile

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Make 2022 your year by taking on a challenge in aid of Spread a Smile.  In joining Team Smile, you will be helping to spread smiles to thousands of seriously ill and hospitalised children under the care of our NHS hospital partners.  We’ll support you all the way from sign up to race day and keep you informed about the difference you’ve made to young lives.  We’ve a host of challenges to choose from – see the full list HERE.  Alternatively if you have an individual challenge in mind, we’d love to hear from you and welcome you to the team.

If you are interested in joining Team Smile, or would like to know more about any of the events, please do get in touch at challenges@spreadasmile.org

Painting Proton Masks

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We are so proud to be able to support children and teenagers undergoing treatment at the new Proton Beam Therapy Centre at University College Hospital, London (UCLH).

The centre, which saw its first patients in December 2021, will offer world-leading proton beam therapy to patients of all ages, targeting tumours precisely while reducing the long-term side effects of treatment. 

Children and young people undergoing radiotherapy treatment for head, brain or neck cancers are required to wear a mask or mould so the treatment can be delivered as precisely as possible. This can be an incredibly frightening experience. Spread a Smile has been painting radiotherapy masks at UCLH since February 2018 and since this time, our Head of Art, Marina, has painted hundreds of masks. The masks patients wear for proton treatment are slightly different.

In December, Marina was invited into UCLH to paint her first trial m ask and we are so proud to be working in partnership with the hospital to be able to provide masks for all child and adolescent patients. 

As with all Spread a Smile’s work, each mask is completely personalized. Marina takes a full brief and brings the child’s ideas to life on their mask. The trial proton mask she painted in December, which you can see pictured here, features rainbows and butterflies

Laura Walter, Director of Services at Spread a Smile said: “All those little details are so important when it comes to painting the masks. Marina always ensures she incorporates any specific requests, that favourite colours are included for example. This gives patients as much control over their situation as possible, helping to make the experience less frightening and more positive.

“We are proud to be working with our partner UCLH to support their patients going through proton beam therapy treatment. The Play Specialists put in many hours so children can cope with their treatment effectively and being able to deliver hand-painted personalised masks helps to further reduce their anxieties. It helps to make a very clinical environment more child friendly.”