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The Spread a Smile Fundraising Dinner was held on Wednesday 8 May 2019. Over 400 people were entertained by Spread a Smile’s wonderful magicians, and they heard about the work, achievements and ambitions of the charity. The fantastic Spread a Smile choir opened the evening with their debut performance. The choir is formed of current and former patients and their families and they gave a fantastic, heartwarming performance. Spread a Smile’s new film was also premiered, and magicians entertained guests at their tables.

Guests heard from Andrea, who spoke about how Spread a Smile helped her daughter, Keeva, following her cancer diagnosis. “Spread a Smile came along and they were so jolly and welcoming and lovely, it gave us the uplift that we needed….For Keeva, it was her one thing during the week that she looked forward to the most. Spread a Smile would come in and Keeva’s face lit up like a firework. It was like an explosion of joy for her to see something new and exciting.”

On the evening, Spread a Smile announced its plans for growth, which will be possible thanks to the generous donations made on the evening. By the end of the year, we plan to be making over 23 hospital visits a month in six hospitals (currently five), enabling us to spread smiles to 7,000 bedsides each year (a growth of a thousand extra children and teenagers).

To celebrate our 6^th birthday in April, we were hugely fortunate to have a very special visit to GOSH with Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne, who spent time meeting and chatting to children and their families.

We also had some special entertainer visits at GOSH, St Mary’s and the Royal London hospitals where we gave out walking pet balloons. The children loved choosing their favourite balloon animal to be their new pet. There were purple elephants, cute dogs and magical unicorns brightening up the wards and bringing smiles to everyone’s faces. We also did a present drop to children at University College Hospital. We were also lucky enough to have a visit to GOSH by Eddie Redmayne who helped us spread even more smiles!

As the charity marks another anniversary, co-founders Josephine and Vanessa reflect on the last 6 years: “We are very proud of how Spread a Smile has grown. We have loved watching it develop and we are very grateful to our amazing team of wonderful entertainers that has made it possible.

“Six years ago, we started by making just 2 visits a month to Great Ormond Street Hospital. Now we make 21 visits a month to 5 different hospitals, and are able to entertain over 500 patients each month. We feel very privileged that we are in a position to entertain so many inspirational families.

“When we founded Spread a Smile, we didn’t realise how much the charity would be needed. We’re particularly pleased we’ve been able to respond to that need, and in ways we didn’t anticipate at the outset. 

“We’ve come to realise how important it is to include siblings in our entertainment, particularly by creating positive memories of VIP days out to the theatre and concerts that give the families something uplifting to talk about during a time dominated by hospital treatment. 

“We have also been able to provide special visits that have been requested by our hospital partners for specific occasions such as parties or for particularly ill children. Our hospital partners know and understand the difference we make and that we can be relied on when extra entertainment is needed.

“We are so proud to be part of the Spread a Smile team and so excited to see where it grows from here. Here’s to another six years!”

Thanks to Walking Pet Balloons for the brilliant balloons. And we wish to take this opportunity to thank all the dedicated staff we work with in our partnered hospitals; the fabulous volunteers who help with events; our talented entertainers who spread smiles; the amazing corporate partners who help us achieve so much more; the indefatigable office team; and, of course, all of you supporters and fundraisers without whom we couldn’t have got this far!

We’re so excited to reveal Trinny London’s video to launch their new FRESH FLUSH limited edition lip and cheek marvel in Mama & Katja. The video features five Spread a Smile children and their gorgeous mums in a special Mother’s Day shoot, ‘Why I love you’.

Malika & Zaina, Shinee & Rowena, Lydia & Suzanne, Craig & Lisa, and Jade & Michelle, all adored being part of something so special. They had their hair and clothes styled by professional stylists, and the ladies were made up with Trinny London products. They all looked and said they felt a million dollars!

The day was a heart-warming tribute to the bond between the mums and their children as they shared their messages of love, which you can see in the film. This Mother’s Day we want to send a shout out to all the brave and inspirational mothers we meet.

FRESH FLUSH pots are enriched with sunflower and daikon seed oil to leave a healthy radiant sheen to the skin, and saturate the lips and cheeks with a glimmering finish. Limited Edition shades ‘Mama’ & ‘Katja’ are universally flattering shades, as they are neither too warm nor too cool. ‘Mama’ is a sheer red with a flex of sparkle, and ‘Katja’ is a sun-kissed plum shade.

Trinny London are generously donating 10% of all proceeds from FRESH FLUSH to us. We are so excited and grateful to be part of this wonderful collaboration and to be Trinny London’s charity of choice. Available at www.trinnylondon.com

Thanks to hair stylist Adam Embleton from Josh Wood Colour and the brilliant make-up artists and stylists from Trinny London for working your magic on our families, and to the Trinny London team for taking care of them so well on the day.

On Wednesday 20^th March we benefited from the inaugural Pop-up & Shop event. It was the brainchild of the indefatigable Claudia Salem, who organised, curated and masterminded this fabulous event on our behalf.

Located in the beautiful setting of Chandos House, an elegant Georgian town house in Marylebone, it was the ultimate shopping pop-up experience. A coffee cart greeted shoppers as they arrived, and Press gave out delicious Turmeric shots inside. 

There were 22 stalls selling everything from beachwear and candles, to luxury jewellery and kids’ clothes. A big thank you to all the brands who donated 20-25% of their proceeds to Spread a Smile, raising over £4,000.

There was also an insightful Wellness talk given by Yalda Alaoui of Eat Burn Sleep. She addressed a group of over 50 guests about inflammation and how diet can influence health. Her talk was very well received and we are so grateful to Yalda who donated all proceeds from ticket sales to us, raising an amazing £2,750.

Raffle tickets were also sold on the day by the Spread a Smile team with the assistance of the lovely Lielle, Mia and Sadie, aged 9, whose energies persuading guests to part with their cash were invaluable! Between raffle tickets and the sale of donated toys, a further £3,000 was raised.

The atmosphere on the day was vibrant and buzzing, and we were overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity that made it such an unqualified success. Thank you so much to Claudia for producing such a wonderful event for us and for all those who came along and supported on the day! It is certainly going to help us spread so many more smiles.

Photos credit: Belle Imaging

Oliver was born with Chronic Kidney Disease in August 2009, and had to live for the first 7 years with a feeding tube, managing the disease with regular monitoring and medication. In April 2017, it was decided a kidney transplant couldn’t be put off any longer, and his mum Jane donated one of her kidneys to him.

Mum Jane told us, “No one tells you how stressful it will be after the transplant. You’re working towards it as your goal, but the body takes such a long time to recuperate afterwards. The first year after was really tough.”  This is when we met Oliver. Six months after the operation, Oliver was really low. He was missing out on parties and school, and feeling sad. Mum Jane talked to a nurse at GOSH and she told her how Spread a Smile might be able to help.

We took Oliver and his family to see Aladdin in September 2017. It was the first outing they had been able to have as a whole family. Before the transplant Oliver’s feeding tube had meant it was very difficult to organise anything around his feeds, which happened five times a day, every three hours. Then after the operation they were struggling to get back on their feet again with so much time in hospital, and both Jane and Oliver recovering from the surgery. Oliver’s sister Lottie was also affected as inevitably there was less time to spend with her, and she frequently had to be looked after by the wider family.

Jane said, “The trip to Aladdin came at such a crucial time for Oliver, as he was feeling so low. We had so much fun! You don’t expect treats – the whole experience of pizza, magicians and balloons. It was like a party! It was also amazing to meet the cast after too – us adults got particularly excited about that! The kids are now spoiled for the theatre – they think there should always be pizza and a party!”

We asked Oliver about the experience and he said it made him feel “really alive”.

We also invited the whole family to last year’s end of year Party. Jane described it as “The best thing I’d ever been to. The generosity of everyone was overwhelming. Lottie and I had our hair curled, which was such a treat. The quality of the party blew our minds!”

Oliver told us, “I loved playing with all the Interactive games – especially the VR experience. The party was really fun – I felt really special!”

We are excited to announce that Masthaven Bank has chosen Spread a Smile as its Charity of the Year for 2019. 

One of the founding tenets of Masthaven’s philosophy is people – to treat people as individuals and a desire to impact people positively. A philosophy that resonates with Spread a Smile’s ethos and makes them the perfect partner.

The team at Masthaven will take part in challenges and fundraise for Spread a Smile and are busy spreading the word to their partners in the banking sector. Their introductions have already led to Spread a Smile being chosen as a beneficiary of a Sector Awards show in July 2019. 

We are very grateful for Masthaven’s support and are looking forward to working with them this year.

We are proud to have been chosen as Charity of the Year by Engage FS, an independent financial planning firm based in London.

We were nominated by Michelle Frost at Engage after she heard Spread a Smile Co-founder Josephine Segal speak at her sons’ school. Josephine told the event at Wolfson Hillel Primary School about the charity’s work in London hospitals. Hearing that as a small charity every penny raised really makes a difference to us and helps us to spread even more smiles to seriously ill children, Michelle knew Spread a Smile deserved Engage’s support.

She said, ‘Throughout the year we try to do different things to raise money for our chosen charities. One thing we will be doing is making a donation for each of our clients on their birthdays as well as other events throughout the year.’

Fortheir previous charity partner Sam Sloma, Managing Director, ran a marathon and this year he has decided to dust off his running shoes and take part in another challenge for Spread a Smile. We can’t wait to cheer him on! 

We are grateful for Engage FS’s kind support and we can’t wait to get fundraising with them.

We are delighted to have been chosen as Christie’s London’s Charity Partner for 2019. 

Founded in 1766, Christie’s has since conducted the greatest and most celebrated auctions through the centuries.

The auction house will organise a series of internal events, including quizzes, a Christmas fair and a staff art show all in aid of Spread a Smile. Christie’s staff are also going to support the charity by sharing their skills and expertise in pro-bono assistance and volunteering.

We were nominated by Sandra who works for Christie’s. We entertain Sandra’s 7-year-old son, Paolo, who has been receiving treatment for cancer at GOSH and St Mary’s Hospital for several years. Paolo, who is pictured below, had a visit recently from Ian, one of our brilliant magicians. Sandra sent us this photo, and told us “Paolo loved the magician”. Thank you so much to Sandra for being instrumental in our being chosen as Christie’s Charity of the Year. 

Thank you to Christie’s for your generous support. We are looking forward to working with you this year.

Join us on Wednesday 20 March to pop-up and shop some amazing brands all in aid of Spread a Smile. The inaugural pop-up and shop, organised by Claudia Salem, takes place at Chandos House, 2 Queen Anne Street, London W1G 9LQ, from 9.30am – 4.30pm.  

You can shop from amazing brands including beachwear from Solly the Dolly, coming to the UK especially for our pop-up, jewellery from Joubi Jewellery, stylish sportswear from Ana Heart, gorgeous and unique clothing from Jessica Russell Flint, homewares from Casa Carta, handbags from Meli Melo, skincare designed especially for girls and boys by Spots and Stripes, gorgeous beach towels from Hamamingo and lots more.  

You can also join our wellbeing workshop from 11.30am to hear a talk from Yalda of Eat Burn Sleep. Tired of Kale and Spirulina? Yalda’s approach is simple, easy, science-based and yields results. Feel heathier, improve your IBS, lose weight, have glowing skin without feeling deprived. Join us to hear how to achieve this and more. Tickets to Yalda’s talk are £50 per head and bookable here and all proceeds will be donated to Spread a Smile. Please book early to avoid disappointment.

Entry to the pop up is free. 20-25% of proceeds from sales at the pop-up and shop will be donated to Spread a Smile.

The lovely Claudia Winkleman spread smiles with us at Great Ormond Street Hospital last month while Alesha Dixon surprised patients and staff at University College Hospital.

Visits from well-known celebrities bring smiles to our young patients, brighten their day, help distract from their treatment and give them serious bragging rights with their friends.