Posts By :

Susie

From Pamper Days to the Yorkshire Three Peaks

 780 400 Susie
By:

Pamper professional, Laura, has been working with Spread a Smile since 2024, regularly visiting our NHS hospital partners to provide special Pamper Days for parents, carers, NHS staff and young patients on the wards.

This year, Laura decided to organise an incredible fundraising challenge in aid of Spread a Smile, recruiting four of her friends to take on the 12 hour Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge – a 24-mile circular hike over Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside, and Ingleborough, with 1,600 metres of ascent.

Laura said, “This year instead of our usual fly and flop girls trip, I encouraged my friends to take on the three peaks Yorkshire for the wonderful charity Spread a Smile. We have all wondered at times what we have let ourselves in for!  

“Working for the charity is my absolute honour. Spread a Smile’s wonderful team are truly an amazing bunch. The work they do is incredible. Fundraising has been a pleasure and there’s been many generous donations.”

So far Laura, Anna, Caroline, Hayley and Steph have raised an incredible £20,000 to support our work and help ensure we can continue to spread many more smiles to children with serious illnesses and their families.

A huge thank you to this incredible team for all their hard work and support. Congratulations on a wonderful achievement which will have a lasting impact for the families we support.

Feeling inspired? Take a look at our upcoming challenge events or email fundraising@spreadasmile.org to chat through your fundraising ideas.

Introducing our new Trustee – Sam Anstey

 780 400 Susie
By:

Spread a Smile is delighted to welcome Sam Anstey, Managing Director of Mildreds Restaurant Group, to our Board of Trustees.

Sam brings with him a wealth of experience having worked in the hospitality industry for more than 25 years and held senior leadership roles across a number of restaurant businesses.

Sam and his family have also experienced the difference Spread a Smile can make during his daughter Ari’s cancer treatment, with Sam saying,

“Having seen first-hand the impact Spread a Smile has on seriously ill children and their families, I am incredibly proud to join the Board of Trustees and support its work. Spread a Smile brought so much joy to Ari during some incredibly difficult times, and that meant a huge amount to our whole family. I have seen just how important those moments of happiness, fun and distraction can be for a child going through treatment.

“It is a very special charity and one that will always be close to our hearts. I am looking forward to playing my part in helping Spread a Smile reach even more children and families when they need it most.”

Thank you Sam and we are very much looking forward to working with you.

You can explore our board of Trustees here.

Entertainer spotlight – Paul the magician

 780 400 Susie
By:

We spoke to entertainer and magician, Paul about his work over the last 10 years with Spread a Smile, visiting seriously ill children in hospital and helping to provide distraction and magical moments for play and fun.

“It is a privilege to work with Spread a Smile and help make a difference to children in hospital. Each visit I make is supported by a Spread a Smile Visit Manager and the rapport between us often enhances the experience, not only for the patient but also for family members at the bedside.

“It is important that we adapt our style of engagement for each individual child, whether it’s a three-year-old or a ‘cool’ teenager, so the kit I take is always suitable for a wide range of ages with minimal set up and reset. Tricks with ropes, cards, sponge balls and modelling balloons are usually in the mix and as a magician, I love being able to perform with cards almost every day – it keeps me sharp and match-fit!

“The families we meet are often going through the worst of times. To know that we are really making a difference is absolutely brilliant. Often you can hear the laughter echoing down the corridors during a visit and we often hear things such as “We haven’t heard them laugh, let alone smile, since they arrived in hospital.”

“I remember going into a High Dependency Unit (HDU), to visit a twelve-year-old girl who was connected to a lot of machines and was staring into the distance. I directed my questions, as always, to the patient, asking what balloon animal she would like me to make. After a short pause, her father suggested that she use her screen. She was then able to use her eyes to act as a computer mouse and give me her answer. “An aardvark.”

“At that moment, I knew that the fun had already begun, as a mischievous grin came across her face. Even though she still had a long journey ahead of her, it was the first positive sign of something changing and it was a heartfelt moment for everyone in the room.

“On another occasion, I was asked by the nurses to see a twelve-year-old boy. He was receiving dialysis, which meant that he had been connected to a machine for four hours before I arrived. He had a very painful migraine and was finding it extremely difficult to see and focus.

“I started to perform a few card tricks and, as the minutes passed, I could physically see his frown disappear, the colour return to his cheeks and his smile come back. As I finished my last trick, I clicked my fingers and asked him how his headache was and in that instant he realised that the pain had gone. Of course I’m no miracle worker, but it was wonderful to see how the magic distracted him for his medical situation, enabling him to put aside his pain and focus on something else for a few moments. That look of wonder that he gave me said it all.”

Spread a Smile entertainers bring so much joy and happiness to seriously ill children and young people receiving treatment and care across our 39 NHS hospital and six hospice partners.

Please donate today and help ensure entertainers like Paul can continue to spread smiles when they are needed most.

Royal Parks Half Marathon 2026 Success

 780 400 Susie
By:

There were smiles, cheers and celebrations aplenty on Sunday as 70 runners took on the Royal Parks Half Marathon as part of Team Smile, making it Spread a Smile’s largest team of runners to date.

Thanks to the incredible determination and generosity of our runners and supporters, Team Smile has already raised more than £64,000 to help Spread a Smile continue bringing joy, laughter and moments of connection to seriously ill children, young people and their families across the country

This year’s team brought together an inspiring community of supporters, including our amazing corporate partners BC Partners, Corinthia London, KKR, Mildreds and Uncommon, alongside dedicated individual fundraisers and parents from families supported by Spread a Smile.

The stunning 13.1-mile route through London’s Royal Parks provided a beautiful backdrop for a day filled with determination, teamwork and fundraising success. From experienced runners to those taking on their first half marathon challenge, every member of Team Smile crossed the finish line knowing they had made a meaningful difference to children and young people facing serious illness.

This year, a team from Mildreds Restaurants ran in memory of Ari, daughter of Managing Director Sam Anstey with Sam saying, “Spread a Smile was incredibly special to Ari and to our whole family. During some of the hardest times of her illness, they brought moments of happiness, laughter and normality when we needed them most. I am running the Royal Parks Half Marathon with close friends and some of the Mildreds team in memory of our special Ari and to raise money so Spread a Smile can continue doing the same for other children and families. Ari was our light, and it means so much to us to be doing this in her memory.”

The charity would like to say a huge thank you to every member of Team Smile for their months of training, fundraising and dedication. We would also like to thank the fantastic supporters who joined us on the day to cheer runners on around the course, creating an incredible atmosphere and providing much-needed encouragement from start to finish.

Spread a Smile Director of Fundraising, Tessa Kelly said: “What an incredible day for Team Smile. To welcome our biggest-ever team of 70 runners and raise such an incredible amount is a fantastic achievement. We are so grateful to everyone who chose to take on this challenge for Spread a Smile and all those who came along to cheer, making it such a special and impactful day.”

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who took part. You should be immensely proud of this wonderful achievement.

Join Team Smile for the 2027 Royal Parks Half Marathon.

Register your interest!

Why support for children matters more than ever

 780 400 Susie
By:

Play in healthcare: why support for children matters more than ever
Lucy Jackson, Spread a Smile Chief Executive

As we mark Play in Healthcare Week (5–9 October 2026), the recent Guardian report highlighting the chronic shortage of health play professionals across English hospitals is an important reminder of just how much pressure hospital play teams are under. An analysis from the charity Starlight shows that there are around 820 health play professionals supporting almost 17 million child hospital admissions in England – highlighting just how stretched many hospital play teams are.

At Spread a Smile, we see and recognise these pressures every day. We know how much children and families rely on play teams to help make hospital feel less frightening, more familiar and more manageable. When those teams are stretched, the need for our support is greater than ever.

This is why the work we do at Spread a Smile is so important. We work hard to build strong relationships with play teams and healthcare professionals across our 39 NHS hospital partners, understanding what they need and finding ways in which our support can help them in their day-to-day jobs.

Our role is not to replace health play professionals – their expertise is vital. Instead, we help create the moments of joy, distraction, connection and creativity that can help children get to a place where play teams and clinical staff can do their jobs most effectively. When a child is anxious, frightened or overwhelmed, sometimes the first step is simply helping them to relax, smile and engage.

Through visits from our entertainers, musicians, artists, magicians and therapy dogs, alongside creative activities and family support initiatives, we bring opportunities for children to play, connect and simply be themselves during some of the most difficult days of their lives.

We see first-hand how much this matters. A bedside visit from a magician can give a child something positive to focus on. Music can encourage a teenager to express themselves. An art activity can provide an outlet during a difficult period of treatment. A therapy dog can offer comfort and connection when a child is feeling isolated or even encourage them to get out of bed for much-needed physio.

These moments might seem small, but they can make a significant difference to how a child experiences hospital. They can also make an enormous difference to the whole family. Seeing their child smile, relax and become more accepting of treatment can help parents and siblings cope with what can be an incredibly difficult and frightening experience.

The Guardian report is an important reminder that play and emotional wellbeing cannot be treated as an optional extra in children’s healthcare. Health play teams do extraordinary work, often under significant pressure, and they need the resources and recognition to do that work properly.

At Spread a Smile, we believe emotional wellbeing should be an integral part of every child’s experience of healthcare. Children in hospital need more than excellent clinical care. They need to feel safe, understood and able to be themselves. They need opportunities for play, creativity, connection and joy – and their families need support too.

That is why our work matters, and why, as pressure on hospital play services continues, our support is more important than ever.

To mark Play in Healthcare Week, we are delivering a record number of visits – 29 visits across 18 hospitals, with additional activities designed to encourage play, creativity and connection. This includes a special event at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, bringing together our North West entertainers, as part of our growing presence in the region.

 

Sources

  • NHS England & Starlight Play Well Toolkit (published June 2025). [england.nhs.uk]
  • Guardian report on health play staffing shortages (17 September 2026), based on Starlight FOI analysis

Interview with Play and Youth Team Lead at King’s Hospital

 780 400 Susie
By:
Áine O’Donovan, Play and Youth Team Lead at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, oversees a team of seven staff supporting children across both King’s College Hospital and Princess Royal University Hospital.
Áine’s role includes supporting children with a wide range of needs, from acute admissions and surgical patients to children receiving highly specialised care, including oncology, neurological and liver treatment. Through therapeutic play and emotional support, her team helps children manage some of the most difficult moments of their healthcare journey.

“Children in hospital for long periods need a different outlet. Spread a Smile’s visits bring new people and activities each week, giving children something to look forward to. This variety helps them engage, have fun, and break the monotony of their routine while supporting their emotional well-being.

“The benefits to children during these visits include a sense of normality, as well as bringing fun, play, and engagement back into what can be a very difficult experience for both children and their families.

For children spending weeks or even months in hospital, maintaining opportunities to play is incredibly important. Play can help reduce anxiety, encourage self-expression, support emotional wellbeing and create a sense of normality in an unfamiliar environment. Reflecting on the role Spread a Smile plays within the hospital, Áine says:

“We receive weekly visits from Spread a Smile charity, including a monthly specialised visit to PICU (the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit). Their artist has created warm and welcoming scenes and pictures across paediatric areas. We utilise the online daily entertainment sessions as well as the Spread a Smile channels for music and songs. In addition, the charity provides gift and toy drops, pamper days, organises larger events that our patients and families can attend, and can tailor individual sessions to meet specific patient needs when required.”

Play is also an important part of holistic care, supporting children emotionally alongside their medical treatment. Áine believes that Spread a Smile’s visits complement the work of hospital play specialists, adding new experiences and opportunities for therapeutic engagement.

“These visits complement and enhance our Play and Youth team’s work rather than replace it. They provide additional therapeutic play opportunities, introduce new stimuli and activities and help support emotional wellbeing in ways that can sometimes be difficult to replicate in day-to-day clinical practice.”

The impact extends far beyond the children themselves. Families, carers and hospital staff often become part of the experience too, creating shared moments of joy across the ward.

“The overall mood lifts when Spread a Smile enter the unit, with staff, families, and patients all engaging. Staff gain real enjoyment from seeing the laughter, smiles, and brightness the visits bring to the children and young people.”

Hospital stays can place huge pressure on families, making opportunities to connect and create positive memories especially valuable.

“Hospital stays can be challenging for families and relationships. Spread a Smile visits support not just patients but also parents, carers, and siblings, creating opportunities for quality time together.”

Over the years, Áine has witnessed many remarkable moments demonstrating the power of play and positive distraction in healthcare settings. She recalls a therapy dog helping motivate a child during physiotherapy, a magician calming a child before undergoing a general anaesthetic, and a fairy singing a favourite song to an intubated patient, helping them to open their eyes.

Having worked with Spread a Smile across two hospitals for the past decade, Áine believes the charity’s ability to adapt to individual patients and clinical settings is what makes it so effective.

“What sets Spread a Smile apart is their professionalism, adaptability, and genuinely joyful presence. Their team are warm, engaging, and easily build positive relationships with staff, patients, and families. They tailor their approach to each clinical area, ensuring their visits are always appropriate and impactful.”

During Play in Healthcare Week, we’re celebrating the dedicated play specialists, healthcare teams and charity partners who work together to ensure that play remains at the heart of children’s healthcare.

Because even in the most challenging circumstances, a moment of fun, a favourite song, a visit from a therapy dog or a little bit of magic can make all the difference.

Sign up to our e-newsletter to stay up to date with our work, the difference we make to the families we support and how you can get involved.

Comedy Night returns to The Comedy Store

 780 400 Susie
By:

The Spread a Smile Comedy Night will once again return to The Comedy Store, London, on Monday 16 November 2026 for another unforgettable night of stand-up comedy.

Hosted and curated by our amazing Ambassador, Suzi Ruffell, the evening promises to be a brilliant night of comedy, welcoming some incredibly talented comedians to the stage, including Tom Allen, Joel Dommett and Dinesh Nathan.

Suzi Ruffell said: “It’s always a pleasure to host the Spread a Smile Comedy Night and to see so many brilliant comedians come together to support such an important cause. A huge thank you to Tom, Joel, Dinesh and everyone taking part for giving their time to help raise vital funds for Spread a Smile. It’s going to be a great night, and I hope lots of people will come along, have a laugh and support the charity.”

Now in its seventh year, the Comedy Night is proudly sponsored by Canary Wharf Contractors Fund and Texel Foundation. This much-loved event has raised more than £100,000 to date, helping to fund our work spreading smiles in 39 NHS hospitals and six hospices across the country.

Tickets are on sale now, with all proceeds helping us to spread even more smiles to seriously ill children and young people in hospital.

Buy your tickets here.

Event: Spread a Smile Comedy Night
Date: Monday 16 November 2026
Venue: The Comedy Store, 1a Oxendon St, London SW1Y 4EE
Ticket price: £25. £50 VIP available by emailing fundraising@spreadasmile.org (including reserved seats, goody bag and a drink)

Sign up to our monthly e-newsletter to stay up to date with more names as they are announced.

Play in Healthcare Week – Why it matters

 780 400 Susie
By:

Every year, Play in Healthcare Week celebrates and highlights the importance of play in healthcare settings for babies, children and young people.

Play is more than a way to pass the time for children in hospital. It can help reduce anxiety, support communication, create connection, provide opportunities for choice and control, and help children cope with difficult experiences.

At Spread a Smile, we see this every day through music, magic, storytelling, art, therapy dog visits and child-led interactions. These interactions are play in action, helping children to cope and engage and creating space for childhood alongside treatment.

The Play Well Toolkit, developed by Starlight in partnership with NHS England and launched in May 2025, sets out the first national guidelines, standards and quality measures for health play services across England.

The toolkit recognises play as an essential part of children’s healthcare, highlighting its role in reducing anxiety, supporting emotional wellbeing, helping children cope with procedures and improving health outcomes. It calls for play to be embedded throughout the patient journey, with access to high-quality play opportunities and specialist support for every child who needs it.

At Spread a Smile, we are proud to help bring these principles to life every day through our regular hospital and virtual visits, creative sessions, art initiatives and family events. We work in partnership with 39 NHS hospitals, including 14 specialist children’s hospitals, supporting thousands of seriously ill children and young people every year with opportunities for play, creativity, distraction and social connection.

In doing so, we help children and young people feel less isolated, more empowered and better able to cope with the challenges of treatment, complementing the work of NHS play teams and supporting the toolkit’s vision of making healthcare environments more welcoming, child-friendly and emotionally supportive.

“Spread a Smile allows children to be children. You bring in the magic and wonder that enables families to make positive memories in what are, more often than not, life threatening situations for their children.” Mum

In our 2025 Healthcare Survey, 98% of parents and carers said that Spread a Smile’s visit improved their child’s hospital experience. 95% said that the visit had a positive impact on child’s mental health and emotional wellbeing.

These statistics speak for themselves and drive us in our aim to deliver regular weekly entertainment provision in all 28 dedicated specialist children’s hospitals across the UK by 2035. In doing so, we’ll be able to reach as many seriously ill children and young people as possible, helping to ensure that play is a visible and active part of healthcare.

We believe that every child deserves the opportunity to play, have fun and experience joy. With your support we can do just that.

Sign up to our e-newsletter to stay up to date with our work, the difference we make to the families we support and how you can get involved.

Golf Days 2026

Teeing off with our Golf Days 2026

 780 400 Susie
By:

Earlier this week we hosted our hugely successful annual Golf Days, at a new venue – The Shire, London.

Sponsored by Canary Wharf Contractors Fund and held over two days, the event welcomed 34 teams for two fantastic days of golf on the only UK course designed by the late Spanish golfing legend, Seve Ballesteros.

With the sun (mostly) shining on both days, our golfers enjoyed playing the 18-holes – accompanied by entertainment around the course from Spread a Smile musicians, artists and magicians, including our Ambassador, Richard Jones.

Keen golfer and member of the under-12 county golf set up, 8 year old Hudson joined us along with Dad Laurie, for a special ‘beat the pro’ opportunity. Teams also enjoyed snacks and drinks delivered by golf buggy, before returning to the club house for a delicious lunch 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, sharing just how important their support is  On Tuesday, Sam Anstey, Managing Director of Mildreds Restaurant Group, spoke to guests about how Spread a Smile supported his daughter Ari and the wider family whilst Ari was seriously ill. We are so grateful to Sam for sharing his family’s journey with us so openly and it was a very poignant moment for everyone in the room.

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 and we can’t thank everyone enough for helping to raise thousands of pounds to help ensure we can spread many more smiles to seriously ill children and their families when they are needed most.

A huge thank you to Canary Wharf Contractors Fund for generously sponsoring the event. To sponsors LMAC Group (entertainer sponsor), Opticore (trophy sponsor), LMG (raffle sponsor), CMCCE, Masthaven, Metrus and MP Moran (tee sponsors) and Echelon for their fun hole 1 darts. Thank you to everyone who donated a prize, Jimmy’s Iced Coffee for their delicious drinks for all of the players and of course to all of our teams of golfers for joining us and their generosity on the day.

Congratulations to the winning teams – Executive Change (Tuesday) and Echelon (Wednesday), plus everyone who took home individual prizes.

Don’t miss out on our next event! Why not join us for our Comedy Night on Monday 16 November at The Comedy Store, London? Tickets on sale now.

Corporate support: The impact and smiles

 780 400 Susie
By:

At Spread a Smile, every bedside visit, family outing, art session and moment of joy we create for seriously ill children and their families is made possible thanks to the generosity of our supporters and corporate partners.

In 2025-26 support from our corporate partners played an essential role in helping us reach more children across our NHS hospital and hospice partners. Through fundraising events, sponsorship, employee engagement and long-term support, our corporate partners are making a huge impact, ensuring we can continue to deliver smiles when they are needed most. Over the past month alone, we’ve been inspired by a number of incredible partners who have gone above and beyond to raise vital funds and awareness for Spread a Smile.

LMAC Group’s biggest golf day yet

A huge thank you to the team at LMAC Group, who recently hosted their fifth annual Golf Day in support of Spread a Smile. With an impressive 104 golfers taking part in what proved to be their most successful event to date, with over £17,000 raised for Spread a Smile.

The day was packed with entertainment, including appearances from Spread a Smile magician Nick and caricature artist Skye, alongside DJs, guest speakers, a raffle and auction.

We are extremely grateful to Lee McDowell, Nadia and the whole LMAC Group team, as well as all the golfers and event sponsors for making the day such a success. We can’t wait to see what next year’s event brings.

WillU Group races ahead with inaugural karting fundraiser

Another standout event came from WillU Group. Hosting their first ever Go Karting Day in support of Spread a Smile, the event brought together clients and friends for a day of friendly competition and fundraising, raising an outstanding £25,000.

Spread a Smile Chief Executive, Lucy Jackson, was there on the day and was delighted to introduce Andrew, whose son Josh is supported by Spread a Smile. Josh and Andrew were also invited to take part in the karting, creating a memorable experience for everyone involved.

Special thanks to Jack Lane-Matthews, Craig Copeland, Michael Cash and everyone at WillU Group for their continued commitment to helping us spread smiles to seriously ill children.

Bringing families together at Fladgate

We were also delighted to see our friends at Fladgate support Spread a Smile through their ‘Bring Your Child to Work Day’.

Initiatives like these not only help raise awareness of our work but also create opportunities for employees and their families to learn more about the difference charities like Spread a Smile make to children and young people facing serious illness.

Going the extra mile with Compass Carter Osborne

The team at Compass Carter Osborne once again demonstrated their incredible commitment to Spread a Smile through their fourth annual TB100 cycling challenge.

Held at Hanbury Manor, this year’s event included a100-mile route alongside a shorter 50km option, ensuring cyclists of all abilities could take part. The event also featured a dinner, raffle and fundraising activities, with the opportunity to win a rather unique prize – a pair of Senior Partner Adam Carter’s well-worn cycling shorts!

Our thanks go to Sharon, Laura and the Compass Carter Osborne team for organising another fantastic event, as well as all of the sponsors, along with Adam, Luke and Sam for their ongoing support.

Propshoot returns for a second year

This year also saw the return of the popular Propshoot, held at the Holland & Holland Shooting Grounds in support of Spread a Smile and Genie’s Wish.

Bringing together professionals from across the property sector, the event combined competitive networking with fundraising, featuring a range of fun challenges, auction prizes and opportunities to support both charities.

Spread a Smile magician Gary kept guests entertained throughout the day, while Spread a Smile’s Head of Partnerships, Katy and Director of Fundraising, Tessa, joined supporters to share more about our work and the impact of their fundraising efforts.

International support through ITFA

We’re also incredibly grateful to the International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA) for choosing to support Spread a Smile at its annual conference in Split, Croatia.

The partnership highlights how organisations across different industries and countries can come together to make a meaningful difference to seriously ill children and their families. As Alexia Vella from the ITFA Secretariat said:

“While trade finance connects global markets, this partnership is about connecting on a deeply human level. We are incredibly proud to support Spread a Smile as it allows us to channel the strength of the trade finance community into something truly profound: restoring a sense of wonder, joy, and laughter to seriously ill children and their families when they need it most.”

We are proud of every single one of our corporate partners for making such a huge impact this month, helping to ensure Spread a Smile can continue bringing joy, laughter and connection to seriously ill children and young people across the country.

Westgate Healthcare tackles the Thames Bridges Trek

The team at Westgate Healthcare recently went the extra mile for Spread a Smile, taking on the Ultra Challenge Thames Bridges Trek across London. Covering 25km and crossing 16 of the capital’s iconic bridges, the challenge brought together colleagues from Westgate Healthcare’s Head Office for a day of teamwork, determination and fundraising. Thanks to the incredible generosity of supporters, the team raised more than £12,600 for Spread a Smile, including an additional contribution from Westgate Healthcare’s Directors.

To all of our partners, thank you for believing in our mission and helping us deliver smiles where they’re needed most. Together, you’re making an extraordinary difference to families facing the unimaginable every single day.

Interested in partnering with Spread a Smile? We’d love to hear from you. Find out more about our bespoke corporate partnerships and how your organisation can get involved today. Email our Head of Partnerships, Katy Scales at katy@spreadasmile.org to get the ball rolling.