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Smile Hamper Day 2022!

On Saturday, we headed out across London to deliver 700 personalised Smile Hampers to seriously ill children and their siblings.

Each Smile Hamper was packed full of gifts kindly donated by our wonderful supporters and hand-picked with each child in mind.

Our Spread a Smile Fairies and Entertainers personally delivered each Hamper, spreading joy and laughter to the families we support.

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated presents this year and to the amazing drivers from WC Hackney Carriage Drivers for giving up their time for the deliveries.

As one parent said: ‘”Thank you so much. We were so shocked and my son loved it all. You can see how happy he is. Thank you for everything.”

If you would like to register to find out more about our Services and how you can access them, please sign up for our Family Newsletter here.

We are proud to partner with the charitable fundraising platform, POGO. Buying from the socially conscious brands on POGO means not only will you be given access to amazing deals, discounts and prizes from fabulous products or services but you will also be raising money for Spread a Smile (amongst other wonderful causes). Check out deals for beauty, fashion, food & beverages, health & fitness, interiors & decor, lifestyle, sport, travel and more here.

We’ve been celebrating Diwali, the festival of lights with these colourful walking pet balloons which are super popular with children on the hospital wards. Our talented artist Marina, also created some beautiful Diwali themed art to brighten up hospital internal windows.

Our wonderful Spread a Smile team delivered balloons to Great Ormond Street Hospital, Royal London Hospital, King’s College Hospital, Whittington Hospital, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospital, St George’s Hospital, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Christie Hospital in Manchester and Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice.

Here are some lovely images and feedback showing the joy that the balloons had for children and their siblings on the wards.

“Thank you Spread a Smile for our pet balloons. The children loved walking them.” St. George’s Play Team

“Massive thank you to Spread a Smile for making a very special someone super happy today.” Parent of patient

“Huge thanks again for the balloons. They are hugely popular with both patients and staff! I’ve heard numerous patients and staff say that they have made their day, turning a normal or tough day at the hospital into a special one. One patient, in particular, was very sad to have to be in hospital today on Diwali but this really cheered her up.” Lucy, Clinical Lead Play Department at Royal London Hospital

We are thrilled to have been selected as one of the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry RAG’s charity partners for this academic year.  The BLSA RAG kicked off their fundraising in October with a ghost tour around London hostelries and a spooky Halloween Maze.  The students never do anything by halves and we look forward to working with them on their wild and wacky initiatives in support of children in hospital.

“As medical and dental students we often see the impact that a hospital environment can have on children. Poorly children and their families already have so much to deal with, we can imagine how an element of play and entertainment could make all the difference to their day and make things just a little bit more bearable. The projects run by Spread a Smile provide this for the children and is something we cannot wait.”  Annie Mae Wrigth, BLSA RAG Officer

To discuss your RAG partnership please email us at fundraising@spreadasmile.org 

We celebrated Children’s Art Week during the week of 5th July, with virtual workshops and sessions on different art themes each day. The sessions were attended by the children, teenagers and families we entertain who are all under the care of our NHS partner hospitals. Activities included painting with watercolours, origami, pastels, cross stitch, flower crowns and notebook decorating. 

Amy Crowley, Play Worker at GOSH, said, “The patients thoroughly enjoyed the watercolour session during Art Week. They were able to learn to paint a beautiful seashell step-by-step which gave them a real sense of achievement. Being in hospital can have a negative impact on self-esteem and sessions like this give patients a real confidence boost.”

This month we’ve seen lots of our lovely supporters raising money for Spread a Smile in some fantastically innovative ways. Gareth Hanson cycled from his home near Watford to South Wales in memory of his son, Sam, who we entertained. Gareth cycled the 300km distance in 11.5 hours and raised an incredible £4,234 to be split between Spread a Smile and Great Ormond Street Hospital. 

Our partners at Hain Daniels completed a 72 hole golf marathon challenge to fundraise for us, raising close to £1,390. Charlotte Dudly and her sister, Alexa, raised £1,000 at a toy and games sale and the staff and children at Yavneh College, Borehamwood, rounded off a year’s support with an activity day and donation of £60. Thank you to everyone for all your efforts and for spreading so many smiles.

Thank you to all of our supporters who help us to spread more smiles.

As football frenzy sweeps across Europe we’ve joined in with our own footie fun!

We’ve delivered 750 football themed activity packs to seriously ill children and teenagers in our NHS partner hospitals.  An enormous thank you to our partners at Gold Key Media, Immediate Media, Topps and Kelsey Media for the most generous donations of Match! Magazine, Match of the Day magazine, Topps Match Attax Trading Cards and PES games and Metcalfe’s for the hundreds of bags of popcorn.  All are currently being enjoyed in between matches.

We’ve also created some special Euro 2020 themed films and clips for Smile TV featuring our Spread a Smile entertainers. Check them out here.

We’re delighted to announce a new Charity of the Year partnership with Camp Beaumont,  the UK’s most established day camps provider.  As part of our collaboration, we will be working closely with the Camp Beaumont team to raise funds and awareness across their network of camps around Greater London, London and the Home Counties.  And of course, there is much to be shared to enhance the entertainment of children.   It’s an exciting partnership that will not only bring new ideas and intiatives to amuse and delight children in hospital but also increase awareness of the charity’s work to a new family audience.

Camp Beaumont’s fun-packed school holiday adventures take place across London and the Home Counties for 3 to 16 year olds.  While there is no half term camps this year the camps will be back for the Easter holidays.  If you are interested in booking one of their camps please go to their website for a list of sites and activities.

Camp Beaumont has set up a special offer at the time of booking in support of Spread a Smile plus is offering discounts of a full week, day visits, and extended stays.  Use the code SMILE21 to save 5% on a day camp or 10% on a full week of activities.