News

We’re so thrilled that this year, Santa has agreed to spread smiles and arrange virtual Grotto visits to the children that Spread a Smile entertains.

Santa will be virtually visiting children who are in our partner hospitals for the two weeks before Christmas. His days will be filled meeting children on the wards where Spread a Smile entertains, and he will be joined in his Lapland Grotto by different Spread a Smile entertainers. He will also by visited by some of the families where their children are shielding at home. We’re expecting Santa to visit around 200 seriously ill children over the two week period.

Lucy Jackson, Chief Executive of Spread a Smile, was interviewed on BBC News together with the wonderful Hillyer family. We’ve been entertaining Austin throughout the pandemic, and he and his twin sister, Annabel, made a virtual visit to Santa’s Grotto last week.

We are incredibly proud to be the charitable partner of the award winning Masthaven Bank.  Everyone at the bank has been incredibly supportive of Spread a Smile and, even during the pandemic, has gone out of their way to ensure we can continue to spread smiles.  Not only have employees fundraised throughout the year but they also donated their Christmas Party fund to us making them our first official Xmas Party Heroes.

Two employees in particular pulled out all the stops for Spread a Smile.  Jason Finch and Matt Newman took on the challenge of running 2,020 miles in 2020 and achieved their goal through a mix of organised runs, solo runs and even laps around their own back gardens.  But that wasn’t enough!  In support of our appeal, they were joined by their colleague, Honor Sharp in a 36 mile run around our London hospital partners which they completed in eight hours on Thursday 10 December.  Guys – we cannot thank you enough for your energy and enthusiasm and to everyone of your colleagues and friends who sponsored you, thank you.  We hope you have a relaxing Christmas and New Year.

Following the phenomenal response to our Gift Drive we’ve had a wonderful time delivering gifts to 1,200 children in hospital and over 200 more children isolating at home.

We’ve had a fabulous weekend (5 & 6 December) delivering our Smile Hampers to seriously ill children and teenagers under the care of our hospital partners and who are currently shielding at home.  A fleet of black cabs from the Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers’ Charity Trust coupled with a team of our entertainers took on Santa’s duties to deliver our hampers full of festive fun and aimed at lifting children’s spirits.   Thank you to everyone who shared their photos and stories with us.  We are so pleased the hampers made you smile.  Our gift deliveries will continue right up until Christmas Eve to more than 1,200 children who will remain in hospital over the festive period..

We would like to make a special thank you to all those individuals and companies who have so generously supported our gift drive this year including; Spinmaster, Alligator Books, The Paper Box, Hunter Price, Hamabeads, Cheatwell Games, Staedtler, Swizzels, Bastion, Hasbro, Amaze Marketing, Character Options Ltd, Ravensburger, SEGA, The Fence Club, Aurora World Ltd, Alphabet Pie, OTL Brands, Craft Buddy, Learning Resources Ltd, Rainbow Designs, Moonpig, Nutty Putty, Skinny Dip, The Entertainer, Little Gold Collection, Egg Nogg, Gold Brothers, Mad Science & Pass the Parcel.

The children have received the most amazing gifts and the impact of your support is evident in the many photos and messages of thanks we have received.

“Thank you so very much for the hampers.  The kids absolutely love them.  Laura singing ‘Let it Go’ on the doorstep was amazing and put a smile on all our faces especially when it has been a challenging time and my son undergoing treatment in the midst of it all.” 

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.

Despite the ongoing restrictions, our wonderful supporters have been busy fundraising in their communities on our behalf and we are delighted to share a selection of the fun and creative ways they have been helping to spread smiles over the past few months.  You are all making a positive and measurable difference to the lives of seriously ill children isolating in hospital at this time.  Thank you all so much. We are always thrilled to support your efforts so please do be in touch if you have a fundraising idea – fundraising@spreadasmile.org 

• Sultana Begum and her son wanted to give back to Spread a Smile and organised a cycling challenge for the children of their friends and family, raising £2,184  We entertained her son in hospital and everyone wanted to show him and the charity their support.  Sultana explained, ‘”This is a huge leap for him, fighting back from the crippling effects of chemotherapy. Through this dark and difficult time Spread a Smile was a shining light for us to help lift up our spirits and make the pain a little easier.”  Thank you so much to all the children who took part, you are amazing.
• The Hibberd family hosted a charity golf day in memory of their son, Louie.  Friends and family were out in force for a wonderful day of sport and companionship and raised more than £10,000.
• SFC Academy adopted Spread a Smile as their charity of the year.  The Hertfordshire based football academy is attended by more than 100 young players, who will all be sporting the Spread a Smile logo on the front of their strip this season.
• Override, a brand new spin studio in Woodside Park, North London set cyclists the challenge to cycle the distance between the studio and Great Ormond Street Hospital and back.  More than 50 cyclists took part, raising more than £500.
• Aran Char and 13 of his amazing friends – Alvin, Leila, Joseph, Tess, George, Max, Joe, Eleanor, Eddie, Willow, Miles, Sam and Lucia took on the ultimate challenge for any pre-teen by going Device Free for 48 hours, raising £880.  Well done for making it through.
• Friends of Sam Hanson, including his brother, Rhys, Jude, Josh, Teddy, Lois and Maeve, became ‘legends’ by completing an extreme obstacle course in Black Park, Buckinghamshire.
• Nine year old, Mia Simpson, cut her beautiful hair and raised £213, in memory of her friend, Vanessa Moss who we entertained in hospital.  Everyone was very interested in why Mia had chosen Spread a Smile to benefit from her fundraiser and she took the time to tell each and every one of them about our work.  Well done Mia.

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.

Masthaven and Spread a Smile win Best Charity Partnership of the Year Award

In 2019 Spread a Smile was thrilled to be chosen as Masthaven Bank’s charity partner and, since then, the bank has supported Spread a Smile in a huge variety of creative ways. We are delighted to announce that all of their hard work has been formally recognised at the MoneyAge Awards 2020 where they have won Best Charity Partnership of the Year Award.

Since our partnership began with Masthaven they have supported us through volunteering opportunities, office fundraising activities, triathlons, a half marathon with all sorts of dyed hair to increase donations, a marathon in a back garden, an employee dressing up as a ballerina and running through the streets of London, sponsoring a Spread a Smile therapy dog, sponsoring our annual Golf Day and so much more. They even managed to secure Spread a Smile as the principle charity for the British Mortgage Awards raising vital funds (more than £6,000!) and awareness for the charity.

In 2020 Masthaven launched their most ambitious fundraising challenge to date: ‘Oldman vs Newman’. This saw Jason Finch, their Senior Credit Operations Manager, and Matt Newman, their Lending Transformation Manager, join forces in an ‘Oldman versus Newman’ yearlong challenge to raise a mammoth £20,020 for Spread a Smile. Between them they are running 2,020 miles this year and have almost completed this running target! The whole bank has taken part in fundraising around this challenge for the year and they certainly haven’t let Covid-19 dampen their efforts… they have just broken their fundraising target!!

This is an incredible feat in ‘normal’ times, let alone during a global pandemic and we are so grateful for all of the support that we’ve received from each and every employee at the bank. The bank’s extremely generous donation in lieu of a Christmas party #XmasPartyHeroes this year has also been particularly heartwarming. Masthaven’s generosity has and will continue to have a truly significant and lasting impact on our vital work; helping to create moments of joy during some of their darkest days and providing positive memories for their whole family.

We are immensely proud to be working with Masthaven and so pleased that their hard work has been recognised through this recent award. Congratulations and thank you!