News

We are delighted to announce that Lucy Jackson has been appointed Chief Executive of Spread a Smile. Lucy joined the charity in February 2017, initially as Director of Strategy and Communications and was appointed CEO in January 2018. She brings a wealth of experience having previously worked as Director of Communications at Teenage Cancer Trust and music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins and before that at PR agency Weber Shandwick.

Lucy will work closely with charity co-founders, Vanessa Crocker and Josephine Segal, who will take on the role of co-Chairs.

Josephine and Vanessa said: “Lucy has had such a positive impact since joining the organisation 12 months ago. We are delighted to be working together with her to get the charity in the best possible shape for the future and to help us grow and develop to meet the challenges ahead. We are all committed to retaining the charity’s personal touch, giving the best possible service we can to the young people and their families who we support in hospital.”

Lucy said “It’s an honour and privilege to be part of Spread a Smile, working in partnership with Josephine and Vanessa, two inspirational people who have done the most incredible job of getting the charity to where it is today. I am lucky to have joined a dedicated team and we have an exciting and important job ahead to ensure we are brightening the days of as many seriously ill young people as possible.”

We are also delighted to announce that Louise Jacobs has joined our trustee board. Louise is currently involved in a number of not for profit organisations as a trustee and advisor, both for national charities and some smaller local charities. Previously, Louise has been Chief Executive of a community and cultural centre.

Josephine and Vanessa said “We are delighted Louise has joined our board of trustees, bringing significant third sector experience. We are grateful to have Louise on board during a period of development and growth. We know she will really be able to help us.”

Louise said, “I am absolutely delighted to have become a trustee of Spread a Smile. The charity does amazing and valuable work and to be part of that is very humbling. I am excited to have become a member of this incredible team and hopefully add value to this outstanding organisation.”

Louise is pictured here (on the far left) with our other Spread a Smile trustees, from far left, Paul Godfrey, Paul Crocker, Josephine Segal, Vanessa Crocker and Richard Segal

Jez Allinson, a dedicated officer of 20 years with the Royal Air Force, is now a record-breaking, Marathon running, Star Wars Stormtrooper, know as “The Running Stormtrooper!”

This year, as well as running the London Marathon in April, fully dressed as a Stormtrooper, on May 17^th, Jez will run a whopping 100km (62 miles) in one day, dressed as his alter ego, the Running Stormtrooper, all the while raising funds for Spread a Smile and Make a Wish.

He first heard about Spread a Smile after watching Children in Need in November as he watched the very emotional film about a wonderful little girl called Vanessa Moss, who was in Great Ormond Street Hospital for treatment for Neuroblastoma. Vanessa went through exceptionally lengthy hospital stays and treatment and loved the entertaining Spread a Smile visits as they helped to take her mind off her treatment and how she really missed her two sisters.

Jez said, “I thought that I was ready to hang up my Stormtrooper costume. But then I watched and learnt about Spread a Smile on Children in Need and instantly I knew that I had to do more.”

To ensure that all of the 100km mileage can be safely run in one day, Jez will begin his almighty run at midnight around the Pinewood Studios complex until the sun comes up, and once daylight approaches, Jez will be running once again around Black Park.

As a result of all of Jez’s really incredible fundraising efforts for both Spread a Smile and Make a Wish, Jez has decided to beautifully call this ‘mission possible,’ Make a Star Wars Wish and Spread a Smile.

If you want to sponsor Jez, you can do so here

And you might also consider joining Jez on a virtual run to help raise even more money for Spread a Smile. Run or walk 1 mile, 5 miles, a marathon or 100k. You can sign up here, choose how far to run and when, then start raising money. You can set up a fundraising page using BT MyDonate and then all you need to do is prove that you’ve gone the distance using a fitness tracker or app and you’ll be sent a medal in the post. You may want to consider running the 5 miles, to celebrate Spread a Smile’s 5th birthday! Read more from Jez here about why he set up the Virtual Run. 

We caught up with Jez to find out how the Storm Trooper obsession started.

Having spent so many years training with the RAF, Jez was already super fit, and in 2015, he decided to run the London Marathon and raise money for the wonderful charity CLIC Sargent. After this fantastic experience, Jez caught the “marathon bug” and by August of 2015, he decided that he had to run again in 2016, but this time, up his game and do something slightly different in order to gain further support, awareness and sponsorship.

This is where the idea of running the 2016 London Marathon, dressed as a Star Wars Stormtrooper, was born. Jez has been a massive Star Wars fan since the age of 5. For this particular marathon, Jez decided to support the wonderful wish granting children’s charity, Make a Wish.

Jez set about finding himself a full Stormtrooper armour and contacted a friend who works for a Star Wars favourite, Jedi News, who in turn, further put him in touch with a contact from UK Garrison. They kindly lent Jez a fantastic full costume and from the moment Jez received it, his training fully “Stormtroopered up” began in earnest!

Whilst training in Jez’s local village, naturally in full Stormtrooper costume, he was caught on camera pounding the pavements. Videos of Jez fully “Stormtroopered” went viral on the site LAD Bible, which in turn attracted a massive 2.1 million views! Well, it’s not often that you see a Stormtrooper running through your village, is it?!

During Jez’s successful training, he decided to write to Pinewood Studios, the home of Star Wars, to ask for permission to pose in costume outside their main gates. Permission was duly granted and Jez’s relationship with Pinewood Studios began.

Thankfully, the 2016 Marathon Day went incredibly well and Jez completed his almighty 26 mile challenge in 5 hours and 26 seconds, a real achievement when you understand the enormous challenge of running in the full costume.

Jez’s devotion to The Stormtrooper and marathon running continued further in 2017, which also coincided with The Star Wars 40th anniversary…when he ran both the London Marathon and his own planned 40 mile run.

In the London Marathon that year Jez was awarded the Guinness World Record for the fastest person to run a marathon dressed as a Star Wars character. Jez’s running time was an outstanding 4 hours, 59 minutes and 12 seconds. Shortly afterwards he ran 40 miles around Black Park, ending at Pinewood Studios. An achievement seriously out of this world!

Following so many marathons, training programmes, smashing records and targets, raising thousands for charity and spending countless hours pounding the pavement, Jez had thoughts on saying goodbye to his Stormtrooper outfit but was then introduced to Spread a Smile via Children in Need.

Everyone at Spread a Smile is so incredibly grateful to Jez for all of his amazing efforts, his time, his care and his dedication and we wish him so much love and luck for the massive challenge ahead. We are certain that the Running Stormtrooper will be triumphant once again and Jez, “May The Force Be With You!”

Two incredibly brave, medically minded young men, Jonathan Benton and Sanj Patel, have decided to take on the enormous personal challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro on March 5th 2018, whilst raising funds for Spread a Smile.

They both wanted to take on a significant task which involved travel and also a great experience. Well, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro will certainly cover both of those wishes! They both completed the tough 3 Peaks challenge in 2015, however it was only over a 24 hour period, not quite as long as this climb will be!

They were already two strong, fit young men, however, they have significantly upped their training regimes to cope with their climb ahead, which now involves running with a 10kg weighted jacket on, plus high intensity interval training and loads of squats and lunges too! Wow!

Both Jonathan and Sanj were introduced to Spread a Smile by a mutual friend, and both instantly knew that it was, without doubt, the charity that they had to support. Sanj is a Consultant Anaesthetist and Jonathan runs a Medical screening company and both immediately saw the relevance and incredible help that Spread a Smile provides to very sick children and their families, at a time when they most certainly need it.

Although understandably, a little apprehensive about the huge challenge ahead, both Sanj and Jonathan are feeling very positive, well prepared and determined to succeed… despite a few concerns about the altitude sickness and the goal to reach the summit at the heady heights of 5,895m! They always manage to spur each other on, so we at Spread a Smile are sure that this challenge is no exception.

As Jonathan says “The different climatic zones, the scenery and the sense of achievement which we will both have once we have completed this mammoth challenge will totally make it all worthwhile. If we can raise a lot of money for Spread a Smile simultaneously, then we will have both managed to have ticked many items from our bucket list! We will definitely smile once we reach the top and we hope that our smiles help to spread more smiles to those children who are so deserving in hospital.”

Please click here if you would like to sponsor Jonathan and Sanj

IAN JONES MARATHON MAN

Running and exercise fanatic Ian Jones has decided to run not one but two marathons this year and all in aid of Spread a Smile. These marathons will be Ian’s ninth and tenth marathons, so he is certainly no stranger to pounding the pavements, and we at Spread a Smile believe that as a result of these incredible efforts, we can happily call him our very own ‘Marathon Man!’

The marathons which Ian has chosen to run in this year are the New Forest Marathon on 9th September followed swiftly by the Frankfurt Marathon on 28th October.

Ian said, “In running for Spread a Smile, all contributions will go to an organisation filled with incredibly kind and selfless individuals dedicated to bringinghappiness, laughs and smiles to children facing the most difficult and uncertain of circumstances. As soon as I heard about the charity’s story and objectives, I couldn’t have thought of a better cause. ”

Ian has a punishing training regime, running 18 kilometres at a time, up to three times a week, plus he puts himself through an hour long track session twice a week, with the aim of increasing his speed each time. As if that was not enough, Ian also runs in a Park Run every Saturday, followed by a slow long run on a Sunday.

By his own admission, Ian is super competitive, especially with eight previous marathons under his belt, together with one Iron Man and 2 half Iron Man achievements to add to his medal collection too. Thankfully with Ian’s love of fitness and the outdoors, it doesn’t look as though he will be slowing down anytime soon!

We at Spread a Smile wish Ian so much luck and good health for his forthcoming endeavours and we are so grateful for all that he will raise for Spread a Smile. You can sponsor him here

Recently we welcomed solicitor Mark Summerfield and his dog, Donny, a 7 year old cavalier King Charles spaniel, to the Spread a Smile team. We caught up with Mark to ask him about Donny and what motivated him to start visiting the hospitals with his dog.

“I have known Josephine, one of the charity’s founders, for some time. I knew about Oscar and Cassie, Spread a Smile’s other Pet Therapy dogs and the great work they were doing in hospitals, and I suggested that Donny and I join the team.

“We had to go through the Pets as Therapy (PAT) training before we were able to visit the hospitals but I found the whole process relatively painless. Donny passed with flying colours. Even they thought he was a great candidate for PAT work.

“I thought Donny would be a great dog to visit children in hospital. He is so placid and particularly good with kids.  He is so affectionate and kids love to hear about how he lost the sight in one of his eyes. (It happened when he was one, after being hit by a van.  He was staying with some friends of ours and got homesick and ran home when he was hit.  He was in a coma for a few days but came round). He is also a bit deaf, actually a lot deaf, and is generally quirky.”

Mark and Donny made their first visit to University College Hospital in December 2017. Mark says he was a bit cautious at first but fine and “relaxed when I saw Donny triggering smiles from everyone he met. Before taking Donny in for the first time, I’d joined a visit with Carolyn and her dog Oscar, so I knew what to expect.

“I was really looking forward to the first visit and Donny was really great.  He sat on the beds of many of the kids and teenagers and made himself at home.  He enjoyed the attention.  I was very impressed with him.

“I am really looking forward to my next visit and I would do lots more if I didn’t have a day job to go to”.

Fantastically caring sisters, Emma and Millie, have been growing their long Rapunzel-like, blonde locks for a very special reason. Emma and Millie are aunties to their wonderful, two year old niece Alice, who is undergoing extensive treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Bilateral Retinoblastoma, a rare but aggressive form of eye cancer which affects babies and very young children.

Feeling as though they had to help in any way that they could, Emma and Millie have decided to raise money for Spread a Smile and the Rainbow Trust, by creating a wig for The Little Princess Trust, by having a super haircut and then donating their luscious locks to create a wig for a child undergoing chemotherapy or other treatments which result in hair loss. The big haircut is taking place this Saturday, 20th January 2018.

The knotting process at the top of the wig alone takes 4 inches in length, so the super sisters are aiming to donate at least 12 inches each, to provide a very brave little person somewhere with some hair and hopefully make their day a little brighter.

Emma and Millie said “We are very grateful to the Rainbow Trust and Spread a Smile as they continue to support Alice (and the whole family) through her journey.”

Wonderfully strong, little Alice has been entertained by Spread a Smile many times at Great Ormond Street Hospital and she is particularly fond of Cassie, Spread a Smile’s Pet Therapy dog. Cassie always manages to create a smile on any little person’s face!

Alice has also managed to go to several Spread a Smile theatre trips, the most recent being the trip to see The Gruffalo’s Child, before Christmas 2017. In fact, Alice’s big sister Mia even went up on stage after the show to meet the cast. Being brave clearly runs in this very special family!

Spread a Smile’s Caroline Lisberg, said “It is our privilege to entertain children like Alice and if we can just make their day a little brighter whether it be in the hospitals or send a family on a theatre trip to enjoy themselves then we’ve achieved something great!”

We wish both Emma and Millie so much love and luck and are so grateful for their incredible hair raising efforts and outstanding amounts of fundraising for Spread a Smile.

A big thank you to the entire cast of Annie the Musical, who have made this gorgeous film, with exclusive backstage footage of the cast, to raise funds and awareness for Spread a Smile this Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvZMStojJ00&feature=youtu.be

You can donate to Spread a Smile via their Just Giving page.

Sophie Ayers and Katie Wasrsup, who make up part of the very talented Annie ensemble, said “Our team at Annie the Musical are touched by Spread a Smile as it is very close to our hearts. We  believe entertainment can brighten up even the darkest of days. We have created a little video of life backstage at Annie the Musical this Christmas in loving memory of Vanessa and to raise funds for this very worthwhile cause”.

Miranda Hart, who played Miss Hannigan in the production, features in the Christmas film. She said “We would be so grateful if you could donate to Spread a Smile. It’s an amazing charity that provides entertainment for terminally ill young people in hospital so it couldn’t be more important, particularly at this time of year.”

Spread a Smile co-founders, Josephine and Vanessa said “We are so touched and grateful to the entire team at Annie the Musical for choosing to raise funds for us this Christmas. The video is just lovely and the entire cast are of course very aware of the difference entertainment can make to a young child undergoing hospital treatment. Thank you so much to the entire cast for their support.”

Set in 1930s New York during The Great Depression, brave young Annie is forced to live a life of misery at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage. Her luck soon changes when she’s chosen to spend a fairytale Christmas with famous billionaire, Oliver Warbucks. Meanwhile, spiteful Miss Hannigan has other ideas and hatches a plan to spoil Annie’s search for her true family.

Annie is playing at The Piccadilly Theatre until February 18th.

On Tuesday 12th December, children from years 3-6 at Kerem School, in Norrice Lea, Hampstead Garden Suburb, took part in a Chanukah event for children’s charity Spread a Smile. The children wrapped and decorated 200 presents, which had been generously donated by parents from Kerem School and the PTA. All the gifts will be distributed by to seriously ill children at Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College Hospital, The Royal London Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital by the Spread a Smile team during the holiday season.

Kerem Head Teacher, Alyson Burns, said “I am so proud of the children at Kerem. It is such a lovely thing to do for such a worthwhile charity.”

Libby Mahalla, Kerem School PTA Chair, said “Kerem children were so excited to be taking part in wrapping and decorating gifts for the holidays, for children in hospital. The pride they felt being able to be a part of something so special for Spread a Smile has only helped to enhance their Chanukah experience.”

Kerem pupil, Sophia Bloom, said: “I really enjoyed wrapping the presents. It felt really good to do something so good for such an important charity.”

Josephine Segal and Vanessa Crocker, Spread a Smile co-founders, said “It is always so heart-warming to see kids helping other kids – and the support we’ve received from Kerem school is a brilliant example of that. We are so looking forward to seeing the smiles on the faces of the young patients when we deliver the gifts in hospital.”

Spread a Smile is a children’s charity who brighten the days of seriously ill children and teenagers in hospital by taking teams of entertainers into paediatric and adolescent wards. They take magicians, musicians, fairies, poets, singers, face painters, artists and two Pet Therapy dogs into Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College Hospital, The Royal London Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital, to bring much needed joy, light and laughter to courageous children and teenagers.

Those suffering from conditions such as cancer, heart and kidney related illnesses are often confined to hospital for prolonged periods. Spread a Smile entertainers provide a diversion from the boredom and monotony and help young patients to brave their treatment.

For more info contact Lucy Jackson 07931 362729  lucyjackson@spreadasmile.org