Viv Levene

We’re delighted that we’ll be celebrating the festival of Chanukah this year by co-hosting a virtual party with Camp Simcha.

On Sunday 13th December from 3-4pm, we’ll be running a fun-filled hour of magic and art for all the children that both charities support.

To register, please email smile@spreadasmile.org to book your place!

We can’t wait to spread Chanukah smiles.

We’re all so proud and sending huge congratulations to Spread a Smile’s fabulous magician, Martin Rees, for setting a new World Record. As part of Guinness World Record Day 2020, Martin set a new record for the most magic tricks performed in three minutes underwater with an incredible 20 tricks! The previous record, which had been held for 11 years, was for 13 tricks. Martin completed his record on the underwater stage at Pinewood Studios.

Watch Martin’s record here.

Martin has dedicated his record to the children and families of Spread a Smile who inspire him daily.

We were delighted to help children and teenagers in hospital celebrate Diwali this week with beautiful window designs and special content created for Smile TV.

Jackie Ambrose, Health Play Specialist Team Coordinator at King’s College Hospital said, “We have had a lovely afternoon celebrating Diwali. We enjoyed the Diwali singing and storytelling on smile TV. The art designs are amazing and I am not going to take them down for a while. So beautiful to look at.”

Please see a selection of our Diwali art below:

Check out our Diwali films by visiting Smile TV.

We’re delighted to announce that we are now spreading smiles at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, South London.

St George’s has a large paediatric department, with 65 inpatient beds as well as day care patients and outpatients. They are a shared oncology centre with The Royal Marsden.

We’ve started entertaining there with virtual ward sessions and we’ve delivered treat drops to the hospital.

Hayley Gilburt, Senior Play Specialist at St George’s, said, “It has been really lovely to be able to have these virtual visits during this time and provide children with something different to brighten up their day when we are unable to have any visitors in person any more. The Spread a Smile team have been so enthusiastic and amazing to work with, they are always so keen to offer us everything.”

Laura Walter, Head of Operations for Spread a Smile, said, “We are so pleased to be able to offer regular virtual entertainment sessions to St. George’s hospital, and spread lots of smiles to the children and families that we couldn’t reach otherwise. We are excited to work with the amazing play specialist team and look forward to making face-to-face visits with our entertainers when lockdown lifts. “

We’re thrilled to welcome St George’s to the Spread a Smile family.

Luxury fashion brand Wyse London has collaborated with Spread a Smile to launch the sale of their vibrant Wyse x Spread a Smile t-shirt.

The Wyse x Spread a Smile t-shirt features an eye-catching ‘love’ emblem that symbolises hope, connection and the importance of giving back. It’s a truly fantastic purchase for anyone who would like to support an incredible charity and help to spread a smile on the faces of seriously ill children.

Going on sale today – 9^th November, all profits made from the t-shirt sales will go directly to Spread a Smile.

Wyse London offers a wide range of stylish pieces for every occasion. After bursting onto the fashion scene in 2014, the brand has developed a large customer base, an impressive social media following and is the must have label worn by many celebrities. The recent Wyse collaboration with Spread a Smile aims to increase awareness and help raise extra funds for this incredible charity.  Marielle Wyse founder of the fashion brand comments:

“Spread a Smile is such an important cause, because it brings positivity to seriously ill children and their families. I wanted to design a spirit-lifting t-shirt so I used our signature Wyse sparkle and colour to make it as joyful as possible. I hope it puts a smile on the face of whoever wears it.”

Lucy Jackson, CEO of Spread a Smile,  added:

“We’re delighted to be collaborating with Wyse on this beautiful t-shirt and are thrilled that it will help us to spread smiles to more children and teenagers in hospital. At a time when these young people are more isolated than ever, the ‘love’ and joy that this t-shirt will bring is so vital and we are incredibly thankful to everyone at Wyse.”

If you’d like to help support Spread a Smile and add a stylish t-shirt to your wardrobe, the Wyse x Spread a Smile t-shirt is £70 and available to purchase here.

The lovely Hibberd Family recently held a Golf Day in memory of their wonderful son, Louie, who so sadly passed away earlier this year. We always loved spreading smiles to Louie and his family and we were so touched that the Hibberds decided to raise money for Spread a Smile as well as the team of nurses who cared for Louie and for their local hospice.

We’re so incredibly grateful to the Hibberd family for their fabulous fundraising in Louie’s honour which will help us to spread more smiles to children and teenagers in hospital.

The Annual Spread a Smile Golf Day was held in beautiful sunshine at The Shire London Golf Club. 35 teams tee’d off to play golf and fundraise to spread smiles to seriously ill children and teenagers in hospital and isolating at home.

The teams played a round of golf and enjoyed breakfast, lunch and drinks on the terrace after their round.

When players came off the course, they were shown this moving film by Gordon Rose, father of Amie, who explained how Spread a Smile brightened Amie’s days while she was undergoing treatment and at home.

Huge thanks to all of our sponsors, Masthaven, Kingswood, Opticore, the Jaye Family and McGraths as well as all those who contributed towards the day including Metcalfe’s, Hartley’s, Nourish, Lola’s Cupcakes, Complete Golfer, PIAFF Champagne, APL Media and Cotswolds Gin.

We’re making the most of the last few days of summer by arranging a special ice cream drop at Great Ormond Street Hospital thanks to our lovely friends at Wall’s.

Ice creams, including Calippos, Twisters and Happy Rainbows were delivered to children in the hospital as a fun treat and distraction.

Laura Walsh, Head of Play at GOSH, said, “Thank you Spread a Smile. Delivering the Wall’s ice cream today brought so much excitement and joy to GOSH. At a time when staff are tired and have been managing increased anxiety for a long time this treat energised us all. Children and young people were over the moon. You’re superstars.”

Thanks so much to Wall’s for this very welcome treat.

We were delighted to host our first ever virtual Activity Day at the end of the summer, bringing together children we’ve entertained before and throughout lockdown for lots of Spread a Smile fun. The day consisted of magic sessions with Britain’s Got Talent winner Richard Jones, dance, arts & crafts, fairy fun and a fun science session with Mad Science.  Sessions ran for over 60 patients and were split into options for children aged 3-8 and those aged 9-12. Families could choose which sessions they joined during the day, with one parent saying, “Both our children really enjoyed the day. It was a lot of fun and creative. The magic shows were really magical. It wasn’t just the kids who enjoyed the activities, I did too!”

We’re looking forward to running further Activity Days later in the year, and we’re planning our next one for October half term. Watch this space for more details.