News

The lovely people from The Entertainer generously donated 1,000 soft and colourful blankets for us to give to children and teenagers in hospital.

Meleka, pictured here, received her blanket while she was receiving radiotherapy treatment at UCLH. Rhonda Alexander, Radiotherapy Play Specialist at UCLH, said “These blankets have been such a lovely item to be able to give to radiotherapy patients. They often have to remove their clothes for treatment and the rooms can be cold and the treatment couch uncomfortable. The blankets help patients to feel cosy and more at ease which enables them to cope more effectively with their treatment. The blankets have also been great for children who have long hospital stays on the wards – they can choose the blanket they want with the design they like best and helps to make their room or space less clinical. Thanks so much for providing these warm and cosy blankets!”

We are always bowled over by your fabulous fundraising ideas and February was no exception.

Budding entrepreneur Danni, (aged 10) has been busy designing, printing and asking for donations for her stickers in aid of Spread a Smile and has already raised £510.  Danni’s dad has also generously offered to double the total raised.

The Year 6 Leadership Club at Hymers Junior School in Hull completed a ten-day challenge that raised over £1,372.

Ollie Wright took part in a two-horse race in Cambridge raising £100.

We also wanted to give a big shout-out to all our fabulous Facebook fundraisers who, over the past few months have been fundraising on our behalf.  A big thank you to Emma Gonnella, Annette Stevens, Sandrine Raining, Joanne Marie, Andy Payne, Rob Farley, Yolly Pasti, Aquil Sayeed, Sarah Dean, Martin Rees and Heidi Pook.

The young footballers at SFC Academy took part in a National Pizza Day competition in support of Spread a Smile – the challenge was to create their own pizza – a super prize of two days at the SFC Easter Camp. The winners were Rafi and Coby with a chocolate football pitch pizza – a worthy winner!

This Easter we will be hosting a virtual Easter Egg Challenge on Hot Cross Bun Lane for seriously ill children in hospital.  This virtual egg hunt experience will involve groups of children, each using their own digital device and from the comfort of their own beds, working together to solve multiple puzzles to complete the challenge.  Each puzzle will be posed by a different Spread a Smile entertainer in their own virtual room.  The prizes will be Easter eggs for all.   This is about teamwork, peer support and simply having fun – so important for those children, who due to the pandemic, continue to isolate in hospital, are limited to one parent visitor, restricted to their beds and with no opportunity of home respite.   In addition, we aim to deliver chocolate eggs to children in hospital over the Easter holidays across all our NHS hospital partners.

If you would like to make a donation of an Easter egg for a child in hospital this Easter please CLICK HERE.

If your company is able to make a significant donation of Easter eggs or chocolate treats we would be thrilled to work with you to spread more smiles during the holidays.  Please contact our Director of Fundraising, Suzanne Brennan HERE

Thank you.

The final day of our half term activities was dedicated to our teenagers – many of whom helped to shape the day’s format which included pop art, baking, poetry, yoga, dance and songwriting plus a very special session – a make-up tutorial led by Make-Up by Abi and with the most generous support of our friends Welovesunkissed who sent every participant across all our hospital partners a super make-up set packed full of eyeshadows, blush and brushes so everyone could follow along, learn a few top tips and continue to practice what they’ve learnt in the months ahead.  To receive details of our May Half Term activities please CLICK HERE.

When it’s a cold and windy lockdown half term what better way to while away the hours than to join one of our virtual activity days? Over February half term we’ve been running virtual sessions packed with fun-filled activities for children aged 4-12 and included tutorials in magic, arts & crafts, Wild Science, dance and martial arts.  One mum said, ‘My daughter so loved seeing other the children, especially those she’s met in hospital. It’s lovely to see children who have to deal with so much having fun’. More madcap fun and smiles to enjoy tomorrow.”  To receive details of our May Half Term activities please CLICK HERE.

Last week we were delighted to host a Smile Party to celebrate Abigail’s eighth birthday. The virtual party, which was co-hosted by our wonderful supporter, Lola’s Cupcakes, included unicorn decorating with lots of icing and sprinkles, and allowed Abigail to celebrate with family and friends.

We’ve been entertaining Abigail and her family since July 2019 when Abigail was at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Abigail has regular appointments and stays at GOSH for her very rare condition, restrictive cardiomyopathy, and travels from her home in Yorkshire for her care. Abigail especially loves being entertained by our magicians and artists and our virtual visits have meant that her sister at home has been able to join in the entertainment.

Kathryn, Abigail’s mum, said, “THANK YOU so much.  Birthdays in lockdown are hard, especially when disrupted by hospitals.  You really made Abigail’s day with her cupcakes.  She enjoyed it so much.  It was lovely to see her smiling and happy.  She also LOVED seeing her school friends and her cousin.

“Thank you is such an inadequate word for what you do….. I cannot express just how much it means to me to have your support.  Hospital visits and bad news conversations meant I really hadn’t given any thought to Abigail’s birthday this year, and you just solved it for me.  So THANK YOU”

The marvellous Monty took on a huge challenge for Spread a Smile in January. He ran a full marathon over four days in memory of  his friend, Louie, who sadly passed away last July.

Louie had told Monty about Spread a Smile and the times the charity had entertained Louie and his family, creating some beautiful memories, and so Monty decided he wanted to help other families create positive memories together in the future.

When Monty was running, he imagined Louie spurring him on to keep going. Monty said that Louie was always a positive and encouraging friend, especially when they played football together, so this helped Monty during his marathon.

Congratulations Monty on such a wonderful achievement.

Friday 29 January was National Puzzle Day! To celebrate, we delivered packs of puzzles and games to children and teenagers in hospital, as well as providing them with links to download puzzles that they can solve on their tablets and phones.

Companies including Readly, Cheatwell Games and Usborne Books generously donated puzzles, games and digital subscriptions to entertain children and teenagers during their long hospital stays.

Through Spread a Smile’s own research, we know that being seriously ill can be extremely isolating and monotonous for children and their parents. Children and teenagers in hospital are currently more isolated than ever before – they can only have one parent visitor (meaning their other parent and siblings can’t see them), no outside organisations can visit face to face, and even the usual play activities in hospital play rooms are cancelled because of covid isolation rules. Digital activities and puzzles, which children can access from their hospital rooms and cubicles, are more vital than ever.

National Puzzle Day represents a fantastic opportunity to bring more puzzles and games into the hospital environment. Puzzles bring opportunities to develop problem solving skills and set children and teenagers achievable challenges. For children experiencing extended hospital stays offering new opportunities for challenge and distraction is crucial.