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Nottingham

In-person visit to Nottingham

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The Spread a Smile team recently brought joy to NHS partner, Nottingham Children’s Hospital with the first of our regular in-person visits to children on the wards

Spread a Smile has been supporting young patients at the hospital since 2021, spreading smiles through virtual sessions and seasonal activities such as treat drops. We’re delighted to be expanding our support to include monthly in-person visits by our talented team of entertainers, ensuring we can reach even more seriously ill children and young people when they need it most.

Spending time in hospital can be really challenging for children, especially when they’re missing school, friends, family and their usual activities. That’s why our entertainer visits are so important – providing laughter and entertainment, plus opportunities to build relationships and connections with others. Fairy Becca and Judge the Poet spent the day meeting patients, sharing songs poetry and chats and bringing the usual Spread a Smile sparkle across the wards.

Spread a Smile also recently donated one of our special libraries, full of books suitable for all ages and abilities for families with children on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) to borrow and enjoy The donated is part of our Intensive Care Library Project which has seen us deliver libraries to 14 NHS hospital partners across the country, helping to provide meaningful distraction and engagement to families with seriously ill children.

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Alternatively, if you’d like to support our visits, you can make a monthly donation here.

First family event outside London

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Last month, as part of Play in Hospital Week 2023, we were proud to organise our first ever family event outside of London.

18 families from Leicester Children’s Hospital and Nottingham Children’s Hospital joined us for a theatre trip to see ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. It was such a special evening as one of our very own Spread a Smile singers played the role of Tink and Mrs Darling in the show.

Our guests were treated to delicious cupcakes from Lola’s Cupcakes and a goody bag from Hasbro plus a meet and greet with the cast after the show which involved a Q&A. Every family was able to take photos with their favourite cast members and they even got to see the magic of Peter Pan flying!

“I just wanted to message and say a massive thank you for tonight. We all had the best time at Peter Pan Goes Wrong and we appreciate the memories we made tonight so much. I find it overwhelming the kindness shown to our special little warrior. Keep up the hard work as the memories that your charity brings are priceless.” Parent

Laura Walter, Director of Services for Spread a Smile said, “We’re so glad we were able to meet so many of our families in person from Leicester and Nottingham Children’s Hospitals. We have seen first-hand just how important it is for our families to be able to experience these special times outside of hospital and we are delighted that we could bring so much laughter and happiness for a wonderful evening together.”

A huge thank you to all of our families for joining us, Lola’s Cupcakes and Hasbro for their kind donations and the team, cast and crew from Mischief and Peter Pan Goes Wrong for their wonderful support and kindness.

Please click here to find out more about our family events and outings.