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Suzanne Brennan

Marking World Book Day 2021

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World Book Day is the biggest celebration of its kind which aims to celebrate authors, books, illustrators and – of course – reading!  Children in hospital often struggle with their concentration and keeping up with their studies.  Supporting them through initiatives such as World Book Day is therefore imperative.

Every child should feel part of annual celebrations and events and, even in lockdown, we aim to spread smiles with a full programme of activities to bring the outside in.  On World Book Day and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Wonderbly to distribute 200 personalised books to children both in hospital and shielding at home. Daya and her sister, Jasmine, were two of the first to receive their special books, each printed to include their names throughout the story.

In addition, our very own Princess Leia delivered space-themed boxes full of hundreds of books to children and teenagers at Great Ormond Street Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital for all to enjoy and sent them a very special message from the official World Book Day illustrator and friend of Spread a Smile, Rob Biddulph.  CLICK HERE to see Rob’s message and find out his favourite book.

 

March Fundraising Roundup

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We are always bowled over by your fabulous fundraising ideas and February was no exception.

Budding entrepreneur Danni, (aged 10) has been busy designing, printing and asking for donations for her stickers in aid of Spread a Smile and has already raised £510.  Danni’s dad has also generously offered to double the total raised.

The Year 6 Leadership Club at Hymers Junior School in Hull completed a ten-day challenge that raised over £1,372.

Ollie Wright took part in a two-horse race in Cambridge raising £100.

We also wanted to give a big shout-out to all our fabulous Facebook fundraisers who, over the past few months have been fundraising on our behalf.  A big thank you to Emma Gonnella, Annette Stevens, Sandrine Raining, Joanne Marie, Andy Payne, Rob Farley, Yolly Pasti, Aquil Sayeed, Sarah Dean, Martin Rees and Heidi Pook.

The young footballers at SFC Academy took part in a National Pizza Day competition in support of Spread a Smile – the challenge was to create their own pizza – a super prize of two days at the SFC Easter Camp. The winners were Rafi and Coby with a chocolate football pitch pizza – a worthy winner!

Easter fun on Hot Cross Bun Lane

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This Easter we will be hosting a virtual Easter Egg Challenge on Hot Cross Bun Lane for seriously ill children in hospital.  This virtual egg hunt experience will involve groups of children, each using their own digital device and from the comfort of their own beds, working together to solve multiple puzzles to complete the challenge.  Each puzzle will be posed by a different Spread a Smile entertainer in their own virtual room.  The prizes will be Easter eggs for all.   This is about teamwork, peer support and simply having fun – so important for those children, who due to the pandemic, continue to isolate in hospital, are limited to one parent visitor, restricted to their beds and with no opportunity of home respite.   In addition, we aim to deliver chocolate eggs to children in hospital over the Easter holidays across all our NHS hospital partners.

If you would like to make a donation of an Easter egg for a child in hospital this Easter please CLICK HERE.

If your company is able to make a significant donation of Easter eggs or chocolate treats we would be thrilled to work with you to spread more smiles during the holidays.  Please contact our Director of Fundraising, Suzanne Brennan HERE

Thank you.

Exclusively for Teenagers

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The final day of our half term activities was dedicated to our teenagers – many of whom helped to shape the day’s format which included pop art, baking, poetry, yoga, dance and songwriting plus a very special session – a make-up tutorial led by Make-Up by Abi and with the most generous support of our friends Welovesunkissed who sent every participant across all our hospital partners a super make-up set packed full of eyeshadows, blush and brushes so everyone could follow along, learn a few top tips and continue to practice what they’ve learnt in the months ahead.  To receive details of our May Half Term activities please CLICK HERE.

Half Term Activities

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When it’s a cold and windy lockdown half term what better way to while away the hours than to join one of our virtual activity days? Over February half term we’ve been running virtual sessions packed with fun-filled activities for children aged 4-12 and included tutorials in magic, arts & crafts, Wild Science, dance and martial arts.  One mum said, ‘My daughter so loved seeing other the children, especially those she’s met in hospital. It’s lovely to see children who have to deal with so much having fun’. More madcap fun and smiles to enjoy tomorrow.”  To receive details of our May Half Term activities please CLICK HERE.

 

Camp Beaumont Partnership

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We’re delighted to announce a new Charity of the Year partnership with Camp Beaumont,  the UK’s most established day camps provider.  As part of our collaboration, we will be working closely with the Camp Beaumont team to raise funds and awareness across their network of camps around Greater London, London and the Home Counties.  And of course, there is much to be shared to enhance the entertainment of children.   It’s an exciting partnership that will not only bring new ideas and intiatives to amuse and delight children in hospital but also increase awareness of the charity’s work to a new family audience.

Camp Beaumont’s fun-packed school holiday adventures take place across London and the Home Counties for 3 to 16 year olds.  While there is no half term camps this year the camps will be back for the Easter holidays.  If you are interested in booking one of their camps please go to their website for a list of sites and activities.

Camp Beaumont has set up a special offer at the time of booking in support of Spread a Smile plus is offering discounts of a full week, day visits, and extended stays.  Use the code SMILE21 to save 5% on a day camp or 10% on a full week of activities.

Masthaven Heroes

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We are incredibly proud to be the charitable partner of the award winning Masthaven Bank.  Everyone at the bank has been incredibly supportive of Spread a Smile and, even during the pandemic, has gone out of their way to ensure we can continue to spread smiles.  Not only have employees fundraised throughout the year but they also donated their Christmas Party fund to us making them our first official Xmas Party Heroes.

Two employees in particular pulled out all the stops for Spread a Smile.  Jason Finch and Matt Newman took on the challenge of running 2,020 miles in 2020 and achieved their goal through a mix of organised runs, solo runs and even laps around their own back gardens.  But that wasn’t enough!  In support of our appeal, they were joined by their colleague, Honor Sharp in a 36 mile run around our London hospital partners which they completed in eight hours on Thursday 10 December.  Guys – we cannot thank you enough for your energy and enthusiasm and to everyone of your colleagues and friends who sponsored you, thank you.  We hope you have a relaxing Christmas and New Year.

Delivering Christmas Smiles

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Following the phenomenal response to our Gift Drive we’ve had a wonderful time delivering gifts to 1,200 children in hospital and over 200 more children isolating at home.

We’ve had a fabulous weekend (5 & 6 December) delivering our Smile Hampers to seriously ill children and teenagers under the care of our hospital partners and who are currently shielding at home.  A fleet of black cabs from the Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers’ Charity Trust coupled with a team of our entertainers took on Santa’s duties to deliver our hampers full of festive fun and aimed at lifting children’s spirits.   Thank you to everyone who shared their photos and stories with us.  We are so pleased the hampers made you smile.  Our gift deliveries will continue right up until Christmas Eve to more than 1,200 children who will remain in hospital over the festive period..

We would like to make a special thank you to all those individuals and companies who have so generously supported our gift drive this year including; Spinmaster, Alligator Books, The Paper Box, Hunter Price, Hamabeads, Cheatwell Games, Staedtler, Swizzels, Bastion, Hasbro, Amaze Marketing, Character Options Ltd, Ravensburger, SEGA, The Fence Club, Aurora World Ltd, Alphabet Pie, OTL Brands, Craft Buddy, Learning Resources Ltd, Rainbow Designs, Moonpig, Nutty Putty, Skinny Dip, The Entertainer, Little Gold Collection, Egg Nogg, Gold Brothers, Mad Science & Pass the Parcel.

The children have received the most amazing gifts and the impact of your support is evident in the many photos and messages of thanks we have received.

“Thank you so very much for the hampers.  The kids absolutely love them.  Laura singing ‘Let it Go’ on the doorstep was amazing and put a smile on all our faces especially when it has been a challenging time and my son undergoing treatment in the midst of it all.” 

 

Christmas Appeal 2020

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On Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th December 2020 Spread a Smile will be hosting a 36 hour online fundraising appeal #wewillbethere to raise £250,000. The Covid-19 pandemic and the cancellation of so many events and activities has severely impacted our income and this fundraiser is desperately needed to support our virtual services for hospitalised children over Christmas and beyond.

Life for a seriously ill child is always tough but never more so than at Christmas when families should be together. This year, many hospitalised children will be too unwell or too at risk to go home and will spend December confined to their hospital beds and restricted to just one visitor – making what should be the happiest time of the year unimaginably hard for them, their parents and siblings.   Spread a Smile is one of the few charities increasing its presence in hospitals this December and we need your help to deliver much needed joy and spread smiles to more than 4,500 serious ill children at Christmas plus hundreds more every month into 2021 and while lockdown restrictions remain in place.

We need your help to ensure we will be there for Children this Christmas and into 2021.  If you would like to find out more please email suzanne@spreadasmile.org

Our Christmas campaign will fund an action packed programme of activity from mid-December including a virtual Santa’s Grotto, festive virtual visits with our wonderful entertainers, virtual art workshops, new video content on Smile TV (including the screening of a pantomime), entertainment on Christmas and New Year’s Day and the delivery of 1,450 presents to children in hospital and to those isolating at home.

Funds raised will also support our virtual entertainer visits and Smile TV in 2021 to seriously ill children under the care of our nine hospital and hospice partnerships. Launched in March 2020, this digital entertainment has been of invaluable support to children during lockdown, helping to distract them from pain and treatment, increasing their treatment compliancy and, most importantly, enabling them to remain connected to family life through positive shared interactions.  Our virtual visits have also allowed us to extend the reach and impact to the most isolated and sick children, spreading joy at a time when parents believed that nothing could make their child smile.

 

Autumn Fundraising Roundup

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Despite the ongoing restrictions, our wonderful supporters have been busy fundraising in their communities on our behalf and we are delighted to share a selection of the fun and creative ways they have been helping to spread smiles over the past few months.  You are all making a positive and measurable difference to the lives of seriously ill children isolating in hospital at this time.  Thank you all so much. We are always thrilled to support your efforts so please do be in touch if you have a fundraising idea – fundraising@spreadasmile.org 

  • Sultana Begum and her son wanted to give back to Spread a Smile and organised a cycling challenge for the children of their friends and family, raising £2,184  We entertained her son in hospital and everyone wanted to show him and the charity their support.  Sultana explained, ‘”This is a huge leap for him, fighting back from the crippling effects of chemotherapy. Through this dark and difficult time Spread a Smile was a shining light for us to help lift up our spirits and make the pain a little easier.”  Thank you so much to all the children who took part, you are amazing.
  • The Hibberd family hosted a charity golf day in memory of their son, Louie.  Friends and family were out in force for a wonderful day of sport and companionship and raised more than £10,000.
  • SFC Academy adopted Spread a Smile as their charity of the year.  The Hertfordshire based football academy is attended by more than 100 young players, who will all be sporting the Spread a Smile logo on the front of their strip this season.
  • Override, a brand new spin studio in Woodside Park, North London set cyclists the challenge to cycle the distance between the studio and Great Ormond Street Hospital and back.  More than 50 cyclists took part, raising more than £500.
  • Aran Char and 13 of his amazing friends – Alvin, Leila, Joseph, Tess, George, Max, Joe, Eleanor, Eddie, Willow, Miles, Sam and Lucia took on the ultimate challenge for any pre-teen by going Device Free for 48 hours, raising £880.  Well done for making it through.
  • Friends of Sam Hanson, including his brother, Rhys, Jude, Josh, Teddy, Lois and Maeve, became ‘legends’ by completing an extreme obstacle course in Black Park, Buckinghamshire.
  • Nine year old, Mia Simpson, cut her beautiful hair and raised £213, in memory of her friend, Vanessa Moss who we entertained in hospital.  Everyone was very interested in why Mia had chosen Spread a Smile to benefit from her fundraiser and she took the time to tell each and every one of them about our work.  Well done Mia.