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Susie

Frozen - the Musical

Frozen, Terrible Thames and more

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We know that everyone in a family is deeply affected by the illness of a child or sibling. Which is why Spread a Smile organises outings, events and activities that aim to support young patients, their parents, carers and siblings and bring moments of respite, joyful experiences and enduring memories at the most challenging of times.

The last few months have been packed full of some wonderful Spread a Smile family outings and events, from West End theatre trips to cooking lessons and boat trips. Read on to find out more.

Frozen, the Musical

Frozen - the Musical“Absolutely no words to say how grateful we are for this afternoon – an incredible show! All thanks to you and your ever so fab team.” Parent

We’re so happy to know that our theatre trips really make a difference to those we support. They are a chance for our families to see shows they might not be able to afford and sit back and escape into the wonder of theatre.

Last month we took 14 families to see Frozen – The Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London – and what a day it was! Our pre-show party was packed full of yummy treats, face-painting, glitter tattoos, entertainment and singing from Fairy Betty, Fairy Jude and Colette and magic from our Magicians Sacha and Paul. Then none other than Elsa and Anna came to say hello to our special guests – helping to create some incredible memories for everyone involved.

Brigit’s Bakery Paddington Afternoon Tea Bus Tour

Brigits BakeryIt was a pleasure to welcome 14 of the families we support on board the double-decker bus for a Paddington-themed afternoon tea featuring ‘the best marmalade sandwich ever’! Guests enjoyed entertainment from Spread a Smile’s Mr Magic and entertainer Ellie whilst driving around London and taking in some of its famous landmarks. One guest said,

“You don’t know how much these events mean to us. They really help us through the hard times.”

 

Underground Cookery School

Underground Cookery SchoolSince October 2022, we’ve been running special cookery days at Underground Cookery School in partnership with Teens Unite Fighting Cancer. Together we welcome young people affected by serious illness to learn how to cook a delicious 2-course meal before sitting down together to enjoy the meal they have prepared.

They are fun filled days which provide a relaxed opportunity for the young people to learn new skills

and a chance to connect and share their experiences in a safe environment whilst simply being a teenager amongst other teenagers.

“I wanted to thank you again. In addition to the cooking itself, we got a lot out of the day in terms of being able to speak with other parents and kids that have been through the same treatment. Thank you!”

“Thank you so much – we had such a wonderful day and really enjoyed ourselves. We loved having the opportunity to learn some amazing skills from the team at Underground Cookery School – to meet new friends and forget about illness for a short while. It means so much.”

We’re so grateful to everyone who makes these days possible, including theatre staff, cast and crew, Brigit’s Bakery, Lola’s Cupckares, NuNosh, Underground Cookery School and all of our volunteers who support us at the events. Team work definitely makes the dream work.

Please help ensure we can continue to provide support our families with special moments like these by making a donation. Thank you.

The Butterfly Tree - Corinthia London

The Butterfly Tree – Corinthia London

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Butterflies are a beautiful symbol of hope and joy and our friends at Corinthia London installed a beautiful Butterfly Tree at the hotel to support Spread a Smile.

Created by McQueen’s Flowers, The Butterfly tree stood in the reception of the Corinthia London during May and June, inviting guests and visitors to choose butterflies from the branches in exchange for a donation to Spread a Smile.

It was such a wonderfully, creative way of spreading awareness about Spread a Smile’s work and raising vital funds to help ensure we can continue to spread smiles to even more seriously ill children and young people.

The Corinthia London team announced Spread a Smile as its first charity partner in May this year and since then have been planning and developing various support and fundraising initiatives and activities for the coming months.

Thomas Kochs, Managing Director of Corinthia London said, “When we were first introduced to Spread a Smile and met their incredible team, we immediately recognised how rare and meaningful their work is and the impact Spread a Smile has on the lives of the children and families they touch. As a team at Corinthia London, we felt that this will be the perfect partnership and charity for us to support.”

Corinthia Family TeaEarlier this month Corinthia London invited two of the young people we support and their families to visit the Hotel and see the tree for themselves. It was such a special afternoon full of so much warmth with our VIP guests choosing their own butterflies from the tree to take home before sitting down with their families for an incredible 5-star afternoon tea.

“We had such a wonderful day at Corinthia London. The Butterfly Tree is so beautiful, and Aditi loved looking at it and choosing her own butterfly. Having the opportunity to do things like this, as a family, means the world to us. In amongst all of the other worries, we are so grateful to have these wonderful opportunities. Thank you Spread a Smile and the Corinthia London!” Aditi’s Dad

Working with partners such as Corintha London makes a positive impact on our Spread a Smile’s ability to reach even more seriously ill children and young people at times when joy and laughter is most needed.

Lucy Jackson Spread a Smile Chief Executive said, “This is an incredibly exciting partnership for Spread a Smile. We are honoured and delighted to be working with Corinthia London. Their support will enable us to uplift lives and spread many smiles to seriously ill children in hospital and their families. Both Spread a Smile and Corinthia London place a real emphasis on creating a unique family-feel throughout our work, injecting energy and positivity into everything we do and I know these shared values will make this an incredibly meaningful and special partnership. I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Corinthia London for their enthusiasm and support and I’m so looking forward to getting started with all the exciting and creative ideas we have.”

Thank you to everyone at Corinthia London for their incredible support and commitment.

ArcelorMittal abseil raises over £10k

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When it comes to pushing yourself out of your comfort zone for charity, our annual fundraising abseil does just that!

Last weekend an amazing team of 21 supporters joined us for our annual abseil from the ArcelorMittal Orbit, the UK’s tallest sculpture, situated in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London.

The team included members of the Spread a Smile team, some of our wonderful supporters, Play Specialists from our NHS partner hospitals, friends from our corporate partners Hain Daniels Group and Hamilton Court Foreign Exchange, alongside one of the amazing families that we support.

Kathryn, Mum to Kaiden joined us for the abseil along with her husband Simon and Kaiden’s Uncle Clint.  After the abseil Kathryn said, “Amazing! We had such a great time and a great experience. I highly recommend it to anyone thinking of doing it next year.”

Not only did the team all complete the challenge, abseiling  but they raised an incredible £10,000 (and counting) in the process!

Please get in touch with Rimi at fundraising@spreadasmile.org to find out more about the 2024 abseil and sign up today, or visit the event page. We’re looking forward to welcoming you to Team Smile!

Alesha Dixon at St Mary's Hospital

Alesha Dixon and Crayola Spread a Smile

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We are delighted to announce an exciting new partnership with market leading toy, games and arts & crafts company, Vivid / Goliath. Starting later this month, Vivid / Goliath will be supporting Spread a Smile and our families through its Crayola brand, funding much needed in person art initiatives and donating Crayola art supplies for children in the NHS hospitals we support.

Jade Childs, Senior Brand Manager at Crayola shared more about the partnership, saying, “We know from the pandemic just how therapeutic art is and our passion at Crayola is to raise and inspire creatively alive kids. The partnership with Spread a Smile resonates so strongly with our values and we are delighted to be able to offer this incredible charity much needed funding and extensive product to support these wonderful art sessions to children at their bedsides. Crayola will be donating hundreds of Colour Pencils, SuperTips and Crayons over the next 10 months and looking forward to volunteering as a team later in the year to help the charity pack and distribute Christmas presents to patients.”

Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon, who has supported Spread a Smile for many years, recently visited children at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington with Crayola and the Spread a Smile team. “You could see once the children were immersed with the fairy and art activities, they were immediately relaxed and distracted from their pain and treatment.”

Alesha spent time with patients including Adam aged three, Aiyla aged four, Melinda aged 12 and Emily aged 16, chatting and testing out some of the Crayola products saying, “I was glad I could be there to spread some smiles and see the Spread a Smile team doing what they’re so good at”. 

The partnership is a wonderful opportunity to spread smiles and bring moments of respite and relaxation to seriously ill children and young people in the hospitals we support. 

Lucy Jackson, Spread a Smile Chief Executive said “Art is important in every child’s development. It encourages children to express their creativity, develop motor skills and heightens their ability to communicate and problem solve. For children in hospital, art related projects and activities also provide a welcome distraction from Alesha Dixon with a patient at St Mary's Hospitaltreatment and the hospital environment. This is why we are so excited to be working in partnership with Crayola to deliver even more art initiatives to seriously ill children and their siblings across our hospital partners. Thank you to everyone at Crayola for their generosity, creativity and enthusiasm – we’re looking forward to working together and seeing imaginations engaged through art.

“We are so grateful to Alesha for making the time to visit St Mary’s with us and spreading lots of smiles across the wards.”

Thank you to Vivid/Goliath and Crayola for their support and to Alesha for helping us launch the partnership. 

Play That Goes Wrong

Mischief May raises over £6k

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We’re so grateful to everyone from multi award-winning comedy troupe Mischief and the London company of The Play That Goes Wrong for their support during ‘Mischief May’.

During the month of May, the team, cast and crew all put in a huge amount of effort to raise vital funds and awareness for Spread a Smile, raising over £6,400 through bucket collections and online donations to help spread smiles to seriously ill children and young people across the UK.

It’s been a fantastic month which saw some brilliantly creative initiatives and support for the charity, including a behind the scenes half-term online workshop especially for our families. During the workshop, guests had the opportunity to discover how the chaos and total mayhem of the play is created and meet the cast, creative and stage management teams during a live Q&A.

Play That Goes WrongAs a very special treat, Mischief also invited some of the families supported by Spread a Smile to see The Play That Goes Wrong at the Duchess Theatre, London, including a meet and greet with the cast and crew. Outings such as this are extremely important, providing a chance to escape from the worries and restrictions of serious illness, even if just for a short while.

Earlier this month, Spread a Smile Co-Founder and Trustee, Josephine Segal was invited on stage to accept their donation on behalf of all of the families we support saying,

“It’s been wonderful to see such generous support from everyone at Mischief and The Play That Goes Wrong. We are honoured and grateful to have worked with their incredible teams and can’t thank them enough for everything they have done during Mischief May. It has meant a huge amount to us and all of the families who have been touched by their creativity and commitment to our work.” Josephine Segal, Co-Founder and Trustee, Spread a Smile

Thank you to everyone at Mischief, the Play That Goes Wrong and the Duchess Theatre for their support. We’ve loved your spirit, positivity, and every moment of Mischief May!

Croydon University Hospital. May Chu with Spread a Smile team

Croydon University Hospital collaboration

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Today Spread a Smile announces its newest collaboration with Croydon University Hospital to help spread smiles of joy to seriously ill patients under their care.

Patients and families across the Paediatric Unit, Oncology Clinic and inpatient and outpatients wards will now be able to access the many vital services that Spread a Smile provides, such as in-person entertainer visits as well as visits done virtually, suiting to the patient’s needs.

Working closely with hospital staff and play teams, we aim to spread joy and laughter at the most difficult times, providing opportunities for connection and distraction from treatment and illness. Croydon University Hospital joins the Spread a Smile family alongside the 25 other NHS hospitals and 2 hospices nationwide.

By collaborating together, we aim to help seriously ill children who are on their road to recovery with entertainment, smiles and laughter. The Spread a Smile team will spend quality time with patients, as well as running holiday themed virtual events and entertainment. Virtual visits alongside face-to-face sessions allow the team to see as many patients as possible, all with the aim of spreading hundreds of smiles at the hospital every single year.

The collaboration will add to the work already accomplished by the Croydon Health Charity, which continually raises funds to enhance the patient experience for Croydon’s sick children and young people.

Children will be invited to join weekly virtual group hospital sessions with Spread a Smile entertainers, take part in themed activity days when celebrating events like Easter and Christmas, giving children and their families many opportunities to join in with other activities, including family days out. Families of long-term patients will also be able to book one-on-one sessions.

May Chu, Senior Healthcare Play Specialist at Croydon University Hospital said, “Spread a Smile never fails to bring happiness and joy to our patients and staff. We always look forward to showing them around. The time and effort they take for each patient is really appreciated.”

Lucy Jackson, Spread a Smile Chief Executive added, “We are delighted to be providing monthly in-person entertainer visits. We know that our visits help patients cope better with the hospital environment and allow them to feel less isolated. 

“Our support to the young oncology patients is all about making their experience in hospital a more positive one and distracting them from challenging treatments and procedures. We look forward to more in-person visits with our team of entertainers in the future.”  

Please consider making a donation to help us continue our vital work supporting seriously ill children in hospital. Thank you.

Uncommon fundraising, volunteering and more

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Corporate support for Spread a Smile is invaluable and we’re extremely grateful to all our corporate partners and supporters for the different ways they help us to achieve our aims – be it through Charity of the Year partnerships, donations, fundraising, volunteering, pro bono work and more.

The support we receive from our friends at Uncommon is just one example of how we work with our partners to develop a mutually beneficial relationship, with the main aim of making a difference to the families that Spread a Smile supports.

The relationship started two years ago when Uncommon kindly provided us with office space so we could deliver our Christmas activities. This made such a difference to our preparations as our Christmas support is a huge undertaking, involving creating a Christmas grotto from scratch and managing, packing and delivering thousands of presents to multiple locations across the UK.

“I am so proud of our partnership with Spread a Smile – a charity supporting seriously ill and hospitalised children. I have witnessed the huge difference they make to the children, so it is a pleasure to support them with fundraising initiatives. Our team volunteers regularly and everyone is touched by the work that is done. We have been hosting events for the charity in our locations and having Spread a Smile based permanently in one of our buildings makes them part of the Uncommon family. The bond we have is powerful. The next step is to further involve our clients in fundraisers. By working together we can create an even greater positive impact.” Luciano Frederico, Assistant General Manager at Uncommon.

Moving the Spread a Smile Head office to Uncommon, Highbury cemented our relationship further, with Uncommon employees regularly volunteering to support the charity at our family events and Christmas packing days.

The Uncommon team recently hosted four quizzes across all of their sites (Liverpool Street, Borough, Fulham and Highbury), raising over £2,000 for Spread a Smile and our work bringing joy to seriously ill children and their families. The quizzes went down so well with members that they are thinking of making them a yearly thing.

CEO of Uncommon, Chris Davies also sits on our Real Estate Committee, helping us to plan and reach new audiences.

Lucy Jackson, Spread a Smile Chief Executive said, “We are extremely grateful to all of our friends at Uncommon for their invaluable support. Their commitment, passion and positivity means a huge amount, helping us to continue to provide our vital services to families when they most need it.”

Thank you Uncommon. We couldn’t do what we do without you.

If you would like to talk about how your company can support Spread a Smile, please email Amanda Azouz to get the ball rolling.

Mount Toubkal Summit - Team Smile

Team Smile conquers Mount Toubkal

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Last week, 14 amazing supporters joined our Chief Executive, Lucy Jackson us for an incredible 6-day fundraising trek through the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco in aid of Spread a Smile.

This tough but incredibly rewarding challenge pushed the team mentally and physically, taking in peaks dotted with Berber villages before tackling northern Africa’s tallest peak – Jebel Toubkal, standing at a whopping 4,167m.

Team Smile Mount Toubkal“The trek was an absolutely incredible experience. Being part of a group and watching people find their physical and emotional edge and push on past it to reach a summit of 4,167 meters is something I ‘ll never forget. Thank you to everyone in the group. Sharing that experience with some of the Spread a Smile team made it really special for me.” Richard Balloqui

We are so grateful to this brilliant team who raised over £30,000 for our work spreading smiles to seriously ill children and young people. A HUGE Spread a Smile shout out to Aron, Danielle, Ernest, Janet, Joanna, Lisa, Liz, Lucy, Matthew, Natalie, Nicole, Rachel, Richard and Sammy. Also to our trek partners Charity Challenge.

“You have a picture in your mind of how the trek is going to go and then as you start to climb higher and higher, that picture fades away and reality kicks in. It was so much harder than we thought it would be, However you have two choices; to stop, turn around and return to something comfortable or to push yourself past what you thought was your limit and reach that summit stronger than you ever believed you could be.

“At all times in the back of our minds are the families and children in hospital. Thinking about them spurred us on. Every step we took, we took for them. As a group we could not have done this without each other. The support and camaraderie was amazing. It was an experience never to be forgotten, making us stronger as individuals and hopefully spreading more smiles to the wonderful children who deserve only happiness in their lives.” Natalie Gubbay-Jackson

We’re already planning our 2024 trip and we’d love for you to join us! Please email us at fundraising@spreadasmile.org to be the first to find out more.

 

Chloe and Therapy Dog

Mental Health Awareness Week

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Today is the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, a very important week which aims to educate and raise awareness around mental health.

For the families we support, the pressures of serious illness can be hugely and negatively impactful on mental health. Spread a Smile aims to support our families and their wellbeing, providing positive and happy moments of distraction and helping to reduce stress and feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Our team of entertainers include musicians, magicians, poets, therapy dogs, artists, fairies and more. Each bring their own unique talents and abilities to their work, creating special moments of joy, fun and engagement which enable our families to escape – even if it’s just for a moment – from their day-to-day realities. A visit from one of our team to a child at their hospital bedside can make such a difference to how they feel and manage their hospital experience.

“I have seen the Spread a Smile team interact with my child when he was so ill that he list all interest in play, but they managed to re-engage the magic.” Parent

“Having a singer sing nursery rhymes at her bedside filled us with joy, as it just felt like some normality amongst all of the chaos and heartache.” Parent

Our Therapy Dogs provide a physical comfort and warmth to the patients they meet. Patients enjoy brushing their fur, stroking them, sitting quietly with them and feeding them treats.

“It was during our daily visits to UCLH that we met Spread a Smile. The team were visiting with Buddy, one of their Therapy Dogs. Kaiden was in recovery from general anaesthetic and wasn’t particularly bothered about seeing anyone. However, within a couple of minutes of meeting Buddy, he was sitting up in bed, stroking and playing with Buddy and giving him treats. Kaiden’s recovery from anaesthetic was super quick that day! He just wanted to get up and absolutely loved being with Buddy. It was wonderful for me to see Kaiden happy and enjoying something different. When you spend so long in hospital, anything that breaks the monotony is a treat.” Parent

As part of #mentalhealthawarenessweek we are extremely grateful to our friends at Opticore for sponsoring our Therapy Dog visits to University College London Hospital, St Mary’s Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Art is important in every child’s development. It encourages children to express their creativity, develop motor skills and heightens their ability to communicate and problem solve. For children in hospital, our art related projects and activities also provide a welcome distraction from treatment and the hospital environment.

“I have seen children express their feelings, fear and hopes through art in a wat they never could with words. Watching these young people, many of whom are going through the toughest times, utterly distracted from their treatment and hospital environment is a joy.” Marina Constantinou, Spread a Smile Head of Art.

We couldn’t do what we do without the generous support of our donors, fundraisers, volunteers and partners. Thank you for all your support and please take a look here for how you enable us to make a difference for incredible children like Chloe and their families.

Convex Partnership Launch

Convex partnership launch

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It’s thanks to amazing support from companies such as international specialty insurer and reinsurer, Convex, that Spread a Smile can continue to spread smiles to seriously ill children and young people and their families.

We are delighted to have been chosen by staff at Convex’s London office as their Charity of the Year and are looking forward to building an in depth and exciting partnership.

To kick things off, Convex have made a donation which will make a hugely positive impact on our ability to spread even more smiles this year across the country.

We’re also looking forward to welcoming staff from Convex to volunteer at our family events and also take part in some of our fundraising events and activities.

Lucy Jackson, Spread a Smile CEO said, “We are incredibly proud and grateful to have been chosen as Charity of the Year for Convex. Even more so knowing that the team at Convex voted for us.

“We very much enjoyed visiting Convex recently to introduce Spread a Smile and to talk about exciting fundraising plans for the year and the difference their support will make to our work.

“Together we will be able to spread smiles so many seriously ill children who really need us.”

Choong Kwan, Head of IT Audit at Convex said, “I’m thrilled the Convex London team have chosen Spread a Smile, my family has benefited from their amazing work. Their fairies, puppies and musicians came into the ward and made my daughter, Emilie, laugh and giggle through her long hospital stays. So wonderful.”

A huge thank you to everyone at Convex for their invaluable support.