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Susie

John Radcliffe expansion

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Spread a Smile is delighted to be expanding delivery of our services across children’s wards at Oxford Children’s Hospital (John Radcliffe site), part of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Spread a Smile has been supporting seriously ill children and young people receiving treatment at the hospital since 2024, making monthly in-person entertainer visits alongside providing a range of virtual services. Thanks to the support from Oxford Hospitals Charity, the number of visits is being doubled. The funding from Oxford Hospitals Charity will help ensure that Spread a Smile reaches every patient that could benefit from their services across, children’s in-patients and out-patients.

Kelly Osborne, whose 12-year-old son Jenson spent three months in hospital following gastro surgery, praised the support, saying: “It’s amazing seeing him so happy. Jenson is a long-term patient, so for him having these sessions is really important – they make his week!

“It’s good to have someone non-medical who isn’t doing a procedure, just having fun with him. After the sessions have taken place he tells everyone about them. He just loves them.

“I’m so appreciative for this extra support from the charities, it really makes such a difference to families like ours. It’s amazing.”

Sarah Vaccari from Oxford Hospitals Charity said: “It was wonderful to see Jenson’s delight at the Disney songs and bubble play, so skillfully provided by Laura and Kerry from the Spread a Smile Team!

“Our charity team is thrilled that thanks to our kind supporters and the talents of Spread a Smile, we have been able to fund these extra sessions to bring more joy into the Oxford Children’s Hospital. Fun and laughter in hospital is so important and has such a positive impact on our young patients and their families. It’s just wonderful to see.”

Lucy Jackson, Spread a Smile Chief Executive said: “Spread a Smile is committed to supporting as many seriously ill children, young people and their families as possible across the country. Through our entertainer visits, family outings and events and art initiatives, it is our mission to make sure that all of the families we support have a chance to smile, laugh and have fun. We are extremely grateful to our friends from the Oxford Hospitals Charity for helping to take us one step closer to achieving our aims of delivering regular in-person entertainer visits to all 28 specialist children’s hospitals in the UK by 2035.”

Jo Pinney, Health Play Specialist Team Manager at John Radcliffe Hospital added: “We are so grateful to Spread a Smile for the energy, kindness and creativity they bring to our wards. These sessions offer children a chance to simply be children again, and that impact is felt by their families and staff alike.”

Sign up to our monthly e-newsletter to receive Spread a Smile updates and smiles direct to your inbox. 

Together – spreading smiles

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Today we are shining a spotlight on our partnership with Together, who have supported Spread a Smile and the delivery of our entertainment services in the North West since November 2025.

Spread a Smile relies completely on the generosity of individual donors and companies, with Together’s support directly helping to fund vital in-person entertainer visits for seriously ill children and young people across two key North West hospitals: The Christie Hospital in Manchester (Proton Beam Therapy Centre) and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.

We were delighted to welcome Together’s Community Impact Manager, Sonny Clements, on a visit to The Christie Hospital in March, providing an opportunity to see first-hand the difference these visits and their support make to seriously ill children and their families.

Sonny said, “Together is proudly supporting Spread a Smile – supporting their entertainment visits at both The Christie and Alder Hey. We are delighted to be supporting a fantastic initiative that allows to put smiles on children who need it most – it was an absolute pleasure visiting The Christie to witness this at first hand and I would like to say a huge thank you to the spread a smile team and the entertainers for making this visit happen.”

Rosie Perkins, Spread a Smile Partnerships Manager added, “We are extremely grateful to Sonny and everyone at Together for helping us to spread smiles to seriously ill children in hospitals in the North West. It is amazing to be able to directly link an organisation with the brilliant work we are doing supporting families local to them, helping Together to make a considerable and positive difference within their community.

“We couldn’t do what we do without the enthusiasm and generosity of companies such as Together and it’s a pleasure to work with them”

If you would like to find out more about how your company can get involved with the work of Spread a Smile, through our partnership programme or events, please email Rosie at rosie@spreadasmileorg

Mortlake Crematorium supports Spread a Smile

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Across the UK, crematoria are finding meaningful ways to support local and national charities such as Spread a Smile, raising vital funds to make a difference.

Recently, Mortlake Crematorium, Kew generously supported Spread a Smile as part of a national metal recycling initiative in partnership with Orthometals. The partnership sees metals (such as metal limbs), recovered after cremations with families’ consent, recycled and the proceeds donated to charity.

Mortlake Crematorium donated an incredible £4,250 through the initiative to help spread smiles to seriously ill children and young people, including to those receiving treatment at local hospitals such as West Middlesex Hospital, Kingston Hospital and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Natasha Bradshaw, Manager at Mortlake Crematorium said, “We wanted to support the great work that Spread a Smile does. It is so hard for a family watch a child go through treatment, sometimes being in hospital for long periods, or having to return to hospital on numerous occasions for treatment.  Being able to see their child smile and have fun in those times may give all involved a little relief.  The charity supports the families and siblings too which is just great. Kindness and joy are infectious and that is why Spread a Smile was such a great charity to nominate, as they bring joy on often difficult days for ill children and their families.”

Susie Baxter Head of Marketing for Spread a Smile, (pictured right) visited the Crematorium to receive the cheque, sharing more about how the charity’s entertainers spend time with seriously ill children in hospital, at our family events and through our online sessions, to bring moments of joy, distraction and happiness when they are needed most.

Susie said, “For children living with serious illness, time for fun and play can often feel out of reach. Thanks to the generosity of organisations such as Mortlake Crematorium and the bereaved families who kindly donate their loved ones’ metals, Spread a Smile will bring hope and joy to children and families going through some of the most difficult times of their lives. We are extremely grateful for their kindness and support helping us spread smiles to children local to them and across the country.”

If you know of a Crematorium local to you that might be interested in supporting our work, please do help spread the word or reach out to our fundraising team at fundraising@spreadasmile.org. We’d love to hear from you. Thank you.

 

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.