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Susie

Real Estate Dinner – Building for the future

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We were delighted to host our eighth Real Estate Dinner on 19 March at Uncommon Holborn, bringing together leaders from across the property sector for an evening of connection, conversation and shared purpose.

The event provided a valuable opportunity to showcase the work of Spread a Smile, our ambitions for growth, and how we build meaningful, mutually beneficial partnerships that enable us to continue supporting seriously ill children and their families across the UK.

Chief Executive, Lucy Jackson, said: “As we celebrate our seventh Real Estate Dinner, we are incredibly proud of the support from our Real Estate Committee and grateful to everyone who joined us to learn more about our work.”

Chaired by Shaun Simons (Founder, Compton), our Real Estate Committee plays a vital role in helping us develop impactful relationships and grow our network of supporters. We extend our sincere thanks to Shaun and fellow committee members – Chris Davies (Uncommon), James Lass (Swiss Life Asset Managers UK), Michael Mirelman (GRE Finance), Nicky Barker (KKR), Paul Nearchou (DFI), Lee Jackson (Eversheds Sutherland) and Ekaterina Avdonina (Mirastar) – for their ongoing dedication.

If you’re interested in attending future industry events or exploring partnership opportunities with Spread a Smile, we would love to hear from you. Please sign up to our monthly e-news or contact our Head of Partnerships, Lucy Chesney, at LucyChesney@spreadasmile.org.

Christmas 2025 Spread a Smile round-up

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For families supported by Spread a Smile, Christmas can be a particularly challenging time, with hospital stays, treatments, and uncertainty often overshadowing the festive season.

This Christmas, Spread a Smile supported more seriously ill children, young people and their families than ever before through our festive initiatives, thanks to the wonderful support of our supporters, volunteers, donors, corporate partners and many other organisations who have helped make everything possible. Here’s a roundup of how we’ll be spreading smiles when they are needed most this Christmas. You can also watch the film here.

More Smile Hampers than ever before
We sent out 2,000 personalised Smile Hampers to seriously ill children and their siblings in time for Christmas – an increase from 1,874 in 2024. Each one was full of gifts hand-picked with each child in mind, with our friends from DPD generously supporting us by picking up the hampers every week and delivering them directly to homes in time for Christmas.

It was a huge team effort, with 480 volunteers joining us over 6 weeks from Monday 3 November to Friday 12 December, giving up over 120 hours of support to hand-pick thousands of gifts for the Smile Hampers. Our supporters and corporate partners helped by buying and donating thousands of gifts for the hampers, making everything possible.

Supporting our hospital and hospice partners
During December we carried out 87 in-person visits (more than ever before) to our NHS hospital and hospice partners, helping to spread some festive cheer. This included:

  • 15 visits by Father Christmas and the Spread a Smile elves to 11 of our NHS Hospital partners, giving the opportunity for children spending time in hospital to meet Santa and the Spread a Smile elves;
  • Visits to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) on Christmas Day generously funded by our friends at Whitepaper;
  • Support for Christmas Parties at 8 NHS hospital and one hospice partners (Helen & Douglas House).

A special virtual grotto for those unable to meet Santa in person
Our virtual Christmas Grotto gave children who wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to meet Father Christmas in-person the chance to have a personalised online meet up with the big man himself. Running from 22, 23, 24 December (for families), we welcomed over 125 children to visit our grotto, and also organised hospital sessions for children at Leicester Children’s Hospital, Wrexham Hospital and The Grange Hospital.

Beautiful festive windows in NHS hospitals
Spread a Smile’s Head of Art, Marina Constantinou and our team of artists visited some of our NHS hospital partners, including Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, to paint 100 beautiful Winter and Christmas murals across the hospital wards, walls and windows, helping to brighten up the clinical spaces and spread some festive cheer for the families and staff there. Look out for murals at Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice, Maidenhead, University College Hospital (UCLH), Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), The Whittington Hospital, Kings College Hospital, St Marys Hospital and The Royal Brompton Hospital.

Christmas Gift Treat Drops
Alongside our Smile Hampers, we delivered boxes of gifts to all 39 of our NHS hospital partners. Each box was packed full of gifts to be handed out to seriously ill children and young people and help spread some festive cheer.

In total 10,000 gifts have been sent out to seriously ill children and their siblings, in our Smile Hampers and also in Christmas treat boxes. These have been donated by generous individuals and companies.

Virtual entertainer sessions
Spread a Smile is also running virtual entertainer visits for seriously ill children and their siblings, from magic to music art and more. They mean that the children we support can enjoy our services from wherever they live and are particularly important for those who are isolating at home and unable to spend time with others outside of the family home. This year we organised festive virtual group sessions for the families we support, bringing Christmas cheer directly into their homes and including ‘Stories with Santa’ on Christmas Eve.

Festive Family Events and Outings
winter funland spread a smileSpread a Smile runs a calendar of special events and outings for the families we support to enjoy, from West End theatre and cinema trips to chocolate and pottery workshops, brunches, afternoon teas and so much more. They give the families we support the chance to spend time making memories together without the worry of illness and treatment plans. In December we welcomed over 100 of the families we support to two special Christmas themed events – an afternoon tea at vegan restaurant, Mildreds, and also a trip to Winter Funland at Olympia London, for whom Spread a Smile is a charity partner.

In total, we’ll be spreading over 5,000 smiles this festive season, bringing joy, happiness and special festive moments to families with seriously ill children across the country.

Santa’s Grotto at Leicester Children’s Hospital

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This year, we’ve been spreading festive cheer to seriously ill children and young people at Leicester Children’s Hospital through a special online Christmas Grotto, giving patients the chance to meet Father Christmas in the lead up to Christmas Day.

The festive season can be a very difficult time of year for children spending time in hospital, away from family and friends and unable to get involved with the seasonal build up, activities and events. By taking Santa’s Grotto online, children at Leicester Children’s Hospital were able to join in with the festive fun and share their Christmas lists directly with the big man himself.

Laura Walter, Spread a Smile’s Director of Services said, “The Spread a Smile elves and Father Christmas welcomed over 17 young patients, 19 family members and 2 members of hospital staff from Leicester Children’s Hospital to our magical virtual grotto on Wednesday 17 December, just in time for Christmas. Our charitable work is all about spreading joy, laughter and smiles to seriously ill children and young people when they are needed most. The grotto is our special way of making sure that children in hospital can enjoy the wonder of the season from their hospital beds. They were able to meet and talk with Father Christmas and enjoy music magic and more from our entertainer elves. We are extremely grateful to the hospital Play Team and ward staff for their help, energy and support delivering this wonderful initiative.”

Helen Hayles, Play Coordinator at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, said: “We are extremely grateful to Spread a Smile – they are a fantastic charity that we have worked with for several years now.

“They provide online activity sessions for patients throughout the year and monthly visits from their entertainers. We especially look forward to the annual Santa’s grotto, the response from the children when they see Santa is magical. Spread a smile really do spread joy and smiles to all.”

Every Christmas, Spread a Smile delivers a range of festive activities and initiatives for the families we support. This includes sending out 2,000 individual Smile Hampers packed full of hand-picked gifts for seriously ill children and their siblings, treat boxes full of gifts for patients at all 39 of the charity’s NHS hospital partners, in-hospital festive murals painted on ward windows, and more. Laura added, “It’s our aim to do everything we can to spread smiles, joy and happiness at this very special time of year, so that no one misses out on the festive fun.”

To find out more about Spread a Smile’s work and how you can get involved, please take a look here.

Josephine Segal: Co-Founder and Lifetime President

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Co-Founder, Josephine Segal MBE became Spread a Smile’s Lifetime President in September 2025, after stepping back from her role on the Board and from her regular day-to-day involvement. This honorary role celebrates Josephine’s extraordinary contribution to Spread a Smile and ensures she will always remain part of our story, continuing to be a cherished presence.

Spread a Smile was founded out of Josephine’s deeply personal response to her nephew Aaron’s illness. Together with Co-Founder Vanessa Crocker MBE, she transformed that experience into something remarkable – a charity that now brings laughter, joy and comfort to thousands of seriously ill children and their families each year. The values Josephine and Vanessa set from the very beginning – compassion, professionalism, respect, empathy and warmth – remain at the heart of everything we do.

Right up until her retirement, Josephine, along with her therapy dog, Buddy, regularly joined our team of entertainers on visits to seriously ill children in hospital, helping to spread smiles and joy.

We are incredibly grateful for all that Josephine has given – her love, her heart and her vision. Spread a Smile simply would not be what it is today without her.

“Spread a Smile will forever be in my heart and I look forward to following its journey with pride. I want to thank my darling nephew Aaron, his brothers and family who inspired Spread a Smile, my Co-Founder Vanessa, family, friends, Trustees, team, entertainers, volunteers, supporters, hospital partners and most importantly the children and families who welcomed us into their lives during such difficult times.” Josephine Segal MBE

Find out more about how Josephine and Vanessa started Spread a Smile back in 2013 here.

Golf Days at Woburn Golf Club success

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Last week, we hosted our hugely successful annual Golf Days, at the prestigious Woburn Golf Club.

Sponsored by Canary Wharf Contractors Fund and held over two days, the event welcomed 43 teams for two fantastic days of golf on the beautiful Duke’s Course, ranked in Golf Monthly Magazines top 100 courses in the UK.

With the sun shining on both days, our golfers enjoyed playing the 18-holes – accompanied by entertainment around the course from Spread a Smile musicians and magicians and snacks and drinks delivered by the team – before returning to the club house for a delicious meal followed by prize giving, a raffle and auction.

Spread a Smile’s Chief Executive, Lucy Jackson, spoke to guests about the charity’s work bringing joy to seriously ill children and their families, highlighting how our guests were enabling us to spread even more smiles when they are needed most.

The Spread a Smile Golf Days are a highlight in our events calendar, welcoming companies and individuals to a fun day out. It was fantastic to welcome so many friends old and new, including former England Rugby Union Captain, Dylan Hartley. Thanks to our guests’ generous support, over £87,000 was raised across the events – an incredible amount which will help ensure we can spread many more smiles when they are needed most.

Congratulations to the winning teams – Constellia (Thursday) and Edward Hikmet, Daniel Barlow, Justin Smith and Paul Futcher (Friday). Plus everyone who took home individual prizes.

Thank you to Canary Wharf Contractors Fund for generously sponsoring the event. Also to all of our teams, our volunteers from Blackrock and our event sponsors: Opticore IT, MP Moran, Redstor, Ask Partners, GRE Finance, and Newmark.

Don’t miss out on our next event! Why not join us for our Comedy Night on Monday 17 November at The Comedy Store, London or our entertainer Variety Show at The Camden Club on Thursday 23 October?

Honouring our Co-Founder, Josephine Segal

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Our Co-Founder and Trustee, Josephine Segal, has decided to step back from her role on the Board of Spread a Smile and from her regular day-to-day involvement in the charity. While this has been a difficult decision for Josephine, it is one that comes with confidence in the strength of Spread a Smile today and optimism for its future.

Spread a Smile was founded out of Josephine’s deeply personal response to her nephew Aaron’s illness. Together with Co-Founder Vanessa Crocker, she transformed that experience into something remarkable – a charity that now brings laughter, joy and comfort to thousands of seriously ill children and their families each year. The values Josephine and Vanessa set from the very beginning – compassion, professionalism, respect, empathy and warmth – remain at the heart of everything we do.

Josephine herself reflects: “What began as a deeply personal response to my nephew Aaron’s illness has grown into something truly remarkable. Spread a Smile will forever be in my heart and I look forward to following its journey with pride. As I step away after 13 years, I want to thank my darling nephew Aaron, his brothers and family who inspired Spread a Smile, my Co-Founder Vanessa, family, friends, Trustees, team, entertainers, volunteers, supporters, hospital partners and most importantly the children and families who welcomed us into their lives during such difficult times.”

From 30 September, Josephine will take on the honorary role of Lifetime President of Spread a Smile, a title that celebrates her extraordinary contribution and ensures she will always remain part of our story. Although she will no longer hold formal responsibility as a Trustee, Josephine will continue to be a cherished presence, following our journey with pride and love.

Vanessa will remain closely involved as Co-Founder and Trustee, continuing to bring her passion and vision. Josephine’s husband, Richard Segal, will also continue as a valued Trustee, helping guide the charity forward.

We are incredibly grateful for all that Josephine has given – her love, her heart and her vision. Spread a Smile simply would not be what it is today without her. Though we will miss her daily presence, we step forward with optimism, inspired by the legacy she leaves and the bright future ahead.

Donate a prize for our Christmas Auction

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This Christmas, we’re aiming to spread as many smiles as possible to seriously ill children and their siblings and to do that, we need your help.

In November we’ll be launching our exclusive Silent Auction and Raffle and we’re looking for prize donations, from gift hampers, to restaurant vouchers, memorabilia, jewellery, event tickets and more.

Every prize, no matter the size will help us spread joy and laughter this festive season, through our Smile Hampers, packed full of gifts and sent directly to the children we support, to entertainer hospital visits, treat drops and so much more.

If you or your company are able to donate a prize, we’d love to hear from you. Please email Tasha Mann at tashamann@spreadasmile.org to get the ball rolling.

Thank you.

Inaugural Insurance Dinner spreads smiles

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Last week, we held our inaugural Spread a Smile Insurance dinner, bringing together leading professionals from across the insurance sector for an enjoyable and engaging evening of networking.

Held at the beautiful Ham Yard Hotel in Soho, London, guests enjoyed time to catch-up over drinks and canapes before sitting down for a delicious meal together.

The evening was an opportunity to share more about the work of Spread a Smile, with our Chief Executive, Lucy Jackson, speaking about the work of the charity and the important and unique role our corporate supporters play in helping to spread smiles to seriously ill children and their families.

Spread a Smile entertainer and magician, Sacha, was also on hand to showcase our work, sharing magic with guests and an insight into how our entertainers bring joy to all those they meet.

Lucy Jackson, Chief Executive at Spread a Smile, said “We are extremely grateful to everyone who joined us for our first Insurance Dinner and generously supported our work on the night. Particular thanks go to Richard Reggel and Phil Smaje for all their hard work making this wonderful event possible and enabling us to meet and connect with so many new people.”

The Insurance Committee was launched in September 2025 to explore new avenues for raising funds and awareness. To find out more about the Committee or how your company could get involved with supporting Spread a Smile, please get in touch with our Head of Partnerships, Lucy Chesney at lucychesney@spreadasmile.org.

Farewell and thank you to Louise Jacobs

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We are saying a heartfelt thank you and fond farewell to our wonderful trustee, Louise Jacobs, who has stepped down from the Board after 8 incredible years of service.

Louise joined Spread a Smile in July 2017, bringing with her a wealth of experience from the charity and corporate sectors, alongside a deep passion for improving the lives of children and families. Her commitment, energy and insight have been invaluable as we’ve grown and evolved as a charity.

During her time as a trustee, Louise helped guide us through a period of significant transformation, including the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the expansion of our hospital partnerships, and the development of our new strategy. She has been a thoughtful, generous and compassionate presence on our Board, always keeping the children and young people we support at the heart of every decision.

Louise said, “I have been inspired every day by the dedication of the team and the joy they bring to children and families facing unimaginably difficult times. It has been a privilege to play a small part in helping to grow this remarkable charity and I will continue to champion its work wherever I can.”

Louise brought warmth, wisdom, experience and a great sense of humour to the boardroom, and a genuine belief in the power of joy and human connection, values that are at the very core of Spread a Smile.

Paul Godfrey, Chair of Trustees, said: “Louise has been a truly outstanding trustee: insightful, committed, and always guided by compassion. Her contributions have shaped key moments in our charity’s journey and her voice has been one of strength and kindness throughout. On behalf of the Board and the whole Spread a Smile family, I want to thank her sincerely for everything she’s given us.”

While we will miss Louise’s leadership and presence on the Board, she will always remain a cherished member of the Spread a Smile family and we look forward to welcoming her back to support our family events and hospital visits.

From all of us – staff, fellow trustees, entertainers, volunteers and families – thank you, Louise, for helping us to spread so many smiles over the past 8 years.

To find out more about our Board of Trustees, please take a look here.

Spread a Smile becomes BizzFest charity partner

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We are delighted to announce that Spread a Smile has been chosen as a charity partner for BizzFest, an exciting new business festival which will take place on 18 September at Cressing Temple Barns, Essex.

Created by a team of five founders, BizzFest will bring together world-class speakers, powerful networking, and festival vibes, all in one unforgettable day designed to inspire and propel business growth for founders and teams. The inaugural event features a daytime conference with speakers covering topics from AI to motivation, followed by a lively evening festival with three music and performance stages.

Shaun Pledger, Co-Founder of BizzFest said, “At BizzFest, we believe that business is about more than just growth. It’s about impact. Partnering with Spread a Smile is our way of shining a light on a charity that does extraordinary work for children and families at the toughest times of their lives. We’re inspired by how they not only bring joy to young patients, but also create meaningful, bespoke partnerships with businesses. Supporting them feels like a perfect fit for BizzFest, and we’re proud to help spread more smiles together.”

The partnership with Spread a Smile will offer the charity a brilliant opportunity to introduce our work to a new business-led audience, raising awareness and funds to enable us to spread even more smiles and bring joy and laughter to seriously ill children and their families when it’s needed most.

Lucy Jackson, Spread a Smile Chief Executive said, “We’re extremely grateful to Bizzfest for inviting us to be part of this wonderful event and are looking forward to meeting as many guests and attendees as possible. It’s a great opportunity for us to reach new audiences, showcase what we do as a charity and share how we bring a unique and engaging approach to the partnerships we develop. We’re excited to be working with BizzFest to bring Spread a Smile to the stage and show how we can help businesses to achieve their Corporate Social Responsibility goals in an inspirational way, making a meaningful impact for the families we support.”

BizzFest isn’t just another business event. It’s where entrepreneurs, founders, and business leaders come together to learn, connect, and grow, in a setting that’s as exciting as it is inspiring. Although first release tickets to the event are now sold out, there is still a chance to secure a spot for your business here.

To find out more about how your company can support Spread a Smile, please visit our partnerships page here or reach out to our Head of Partnerships, Lucy Chesney, by emailing lucy.chesney@spreadasmile.org