News

Earlier this month Laura Walter, our Director of Services, was a key speaker at the NAHPS (National Association of Health Play Specialists) and the CCLG (Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group) Multiprofessionals Group AGM.  Her presentation focused on our work with play specialists and other healthcare professionals and the development of our services to support and enhance their practice for the benefit of the patients and families they work with.  Our digital services, and in particular our virtual bedside visits, were of particular interest, having transformed the way we work, our reach and impact.

Laura said, “It was a pleasure to speak at the NAHPS AGM and the CCLG Multiprofessionals meeting to raise awareness about Spread a Smile. Our aim is to grow nationally to support paediatric and teenage patients across England and the UK. This was a fantastic opportunity to communicate with healthcare professionals about the ways in which Spread a Smile can help them and how we can work collaboratively together to best support seriously ill children and young people in hospital.”

This year the Virgin Money London Marathon is taking place both in person and virtually on Sunday 3 October.

We’re delighted to have so many dedicated supporters taking part and we’d like to welcome them all to #TeamSmile.

Taking part in the London race is Jason Finch (from our partner Masthaven Bank) who is no stranger to challenges for Spread a Smile. Last year, together with a colleague, they completed a challenge to run 2020 miles for 2020.

Simon Chandler (from our partner Opticore), Martin Murray (from our partner Hartley’s) and Claire Kemp are all taking part in the Virtual Marathon, running the impressive 26.2 miles around a course of their own choosing.

And Henry (aged 11) and his friends Finn, Daniel and Josh are running a marathon relay on the same day.

Due to injury, we have one place left for the Virtual Marathon. If you’d like to join #TeamSmile and help spread smiles to seriously ill and hospitalised children and teenagers please email fundraising@spreadasmile.org – we’d love to welcome you to the team.

Email fundraising@spreadasmile.org to join the team.

Purchase your copy for £12 including P&P by clicking HERE.  While you are enjoying your toast know that 100% of the author’s proceeds will go to Spread a Smile. 

Few of us can resist toast.  It is a blank canvas with endless possibilities.  What to have on toast for breakfast, lunch and dinner became a continual discussion for home cook, Heidi Nathan and her good friend, Dame Maureen Lipman, on their socially distanced walks throughout lockdown.  And, what started as banter, became a project and finally a cookbook.

Most of the recipes in This Book Is Toast  have simple store-bought ingredients plus a bit of cooking and overall they’re simple, quick recipes that will lift every slice of toast, be it white, brown, wholemeal, seeded or sourdough.

Heidi is Spread a Smile’s Trust & Foundation Manager and a key member of our fundraising team.  Congratulations Heidi – we look forward to testing every tempting topping!

Family and friends of Ben Jarvis, who we entertained recently when he was undergoing treatment for a very rare cancer, took part in the New Forest Rattler. Events included a 5km run, a half marathon and a 130km bike ride.

The family has raised close to £60,000 which will be split between three charities including Spread a Smile. They chose to support Spread a Smile because “Mr Magic would make Ben howl with laughter during his darkest chemo days. Really belly-deep laughs that are pure joy to hear and lift your heart. They even put on a Santa’s Grotto for him before his last radiotherapy treatment on Christmas Eve. No child should have to go through the sort of treatment plans that cancers like Ben’s require. But, if they do, it should be with the support of people like the Spread a Smile team – because it’s the smiles and laughter that get them through it.”

Huge thanks to Hannah and Tom Jarvis for this fantastic fundraising feat.

During the month of May, Marina, one of our incredibly talented artists, created stunning murals in the paediatric anaesthetic and recovery rooms at St Mary’s Hospital.

Marina has already decorated lots of the other areas in St Mary’s paediatric department, including the bloods room and the waiting area.

Painting hospital wards and rooms enhances the hospital environment, making the experience feel less clinical and can distract children from their treatment by having so much to look at and engage with.

Binita, mum to Luca, said, “Over the last year and a half we have become regulars in PHDU (Paediatric High Dependency Unit) at St Mary’s. Going into hospital with a four year old can be extremely difficult and challenging at times but all the staff there are phenomenal. The Play Specialists always go over and beyond to ensure the children have a fun time in some tough situations. Since visiting we have had the pleasure of seeing the walls of the rooms and waiting area be covered in the most beautiful art work. We have loved seeing them develop over time and Luca and I are always keeping a look out for all the new developments. These paintings mean so much as they give a bright and beautiful thing for the children to look at while they have their treatment. Thank you for all the time and hard work you have put in to making our hospital visits feel less clinical.”

Anaesthetic Room:

Recovery Room:

On Monday 7 June we spread extra special smiles with our first face to face visit in 15 months!

Sar and her guitar entertained children on the paediatric ward at Whittington Hospital in Highgate, North London.

Florence Prince, Play Specialist, said, “The singing session today was just fantastic! To be able to sing and have Sar playing the guitar and singing was magical. It really gave the children and their families a sense of some normality in a hospital environment. Children participated by clapping their hands, singing and lots of smiles on Ifor Ward. We as a team are so honoured to work with Spread a Smile.”

We can’t wait to return to face to face visits at our other NHS hospital partners over the coming months. These visits will take place alongside our virtual visits, spreading smiles and joy to seriously ill and hospitalised children and teenagers.

It’s been a half term of smiles and laughter for the children and young people we support. We ran sessions to suit all ages and were delighted to see the fabulous smiles spread.

On Tuesday 1 June, we offered a Festival Make-Up session, led by talented MUA Abi Anahory. Thanks to Go Get Glitter and My Lottie London for the fabulous make up and glitter.

The wonderful Birmingham Stage Company ran a virtual workshop of their Terrible Tudors performance (part of Horrible Histories).

On Thursday 3 June we were thrilled to offer virtual character visits with Skye from PAW Patrol and with Paddington. Thank you to Rainbow Mascots for spreading so much joy.

We’ve welcomed Southampton Children’s Hospital to our growing list of partner hospitals.

For a couple of years, Southampton patients have been receiving their radiotherapy treatment at UCLH, meaning we started entertaining patients from Southampton whilst they were in London for treatment. We wanted to extend our services to support all the families receiving oncology treatment in Southampton and are now spreading much needed smiles to children and young people on Piam Brown ward.

We hope to extend our services to other paediatric wards within Southampton Children’s Hospital soon.

Patients currently enjoy Spread a Smile virtual visits with our entertainers and joined our Santa’s Grotto over Christmas as well as our Jellly Challenge at the beginning of May. We’re looking forward to adding more services in the future.

Claire Pickett, Play Specialist on Piam Brown ward, said, “Spread a Smile has been a really positive addition to the Piam Brown ward. The children look forward to their sesions and even after they’ve ended the enjoyment continues, as they can’t wait to tell us all what they’ve been up to.

“As well as the individual sessions, the group sessions have been fantastic for the interaction between the children and it’s been lovely to see. They really do Spread a Smile and we feel incredibly lucky to have them at Southampton Children’s Hospital.”