Posts Tagged :

spread a smile

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.

To stay up to date with all the things Spread a Smile, please sign up for our monthly e-newsletter.

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

Football with LMAC Group

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On a glorious day of sunshine, smiles, and sporting spirit, Spread a Smile was thrilled to join LMAC Group’s annual Football Day, a highlight in our summer calendar and a wonderful show of generosity and community.

This year’s much-anticipated 6-a-side tournament brought together 11 teams, all competing in good spirits and high energy for the top spot and congratulations to TW1 Boxing, who emerged victorious.

Beyond the football, the day was full of entertainment and joy, with Spread a Smile’s Tasha and Rimi joining in the fun, and magician Richard Jones added a sprinkle of magic for guests. The atmosphere was further lifted by the brilliant DJ Tony Nicholls, who kept the tunes flowing and spirits high.

Events like go a long way to help fund our hospital visits and entertainment services, helping to brighten some of the toughest days for those we support. A heartfelt thanks to Lee McDowell and our friends from LMAC Group for their brilliant and continued support. Plus, to everyone who joined on the day and took part in the raffle and auction, helping to raise vital funds to spread more smiles to seriously ill children and their families.

Want to Get Involved?
We’d love for you to be part of more events like this! Whether you’re interested in fundraising, volunteering, or attending a future event, there are so many ways to help us spread more smiles when they are needed most.

👉 Find out more about upcoming Spread a Smile events here.

Meet Judge the Poet

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Meet Judge the Poet, one of our longest serving entertainers who uses his talents as a poet to spread smiles and wonder and bring joy and distraction to seriously ill children in hospital. We chatted to Judge about his career as a poet and how he started working with Spread a Smile, back when the charity was founded in 2013.

Tell us a bit about your background as a poet
“I am a Spontaneous Poet which involves taking any combination of words, ideas or suggestions from people and then immediately reciting a poem that rhymes, makes sense and features everything they said.

“After completing a degree in English Literature, I wanted to find a way to make poems enjoyable and accessible to as many people as possible. I am very fortunate in my career as I am invited to work all over the world, including for Royalty, celebrities and on TV and radio. And I perform at everything from private parties and celebrations to corporate events, arts festivals, etc.

“For Spread a Smile, I love creating verses for all the brilliant children and their families – and the poems can be as silly or serious as they wish! As well as being a unique and unusual entertainment for them, it can also be helpful and meaningful… as they often ask me to do poems about them, their families, their situation.”

How did you get involved with Spread a Smile and what does your role look like?
“Vanessa Crocker, one of the charity’s wonderful co-founders, had seen my work before Spread a Smile had started. She called me in early 2013 saying there was this brilliant charity starting and asked if I would I like to be involved. And, 12 years later, I’m still glad to do my bit.

“The charity was obviously a lot smaller then and it’s been great to see how it has grown.  It’s such a simple-yet-excellent idea and it really does so much good. I think the ideals and the sincere heart that Josephine and Vanessa instilled into the whole project got it off to a brilliant start. They recruited a really good team of entertainers, looked after them, and made sure that everyone got it right.

“There were obviously fewer of us in those early days and fewer hospitals and visits too.  Now there are over 100 entertainers, although there are still quite a few of us “old-timers”, which is a testament to how much we care about what Spread a Smile can do.

“I still love going into the hospitals and seeing the real impact of our work and how much it helps the patients and their families. As the charity has grown so much, I also sometimes travel to hospitals further afield including Nottingham, Leicester, Bristol, Oxford and Alder Hey in Liverpool.”

What is the impact of Spread a Smile’s work that you see?
“We call it “smiles” and it’s always that, but it is often so much more. Our interactions provide magical moments and memories – something for the children and their families to talk about long after we have left. They are often going through dark and difficult times, and we bring the sunshine and the light.

“I have seen young children, who were not taking their medicine, do so when a fairy sang to them. I’ve heard parents say it’s the first time they have seen their child smile, laugh, or even interact, in weeks. We bring moments of meaning, distraction and hope. Sometimes it’s only when you talk to a patient or their family many years later that they are able to fully explain the amazing and important impact Spread a Smile had.

“And then there are all the events, parties and gifts that Spread a Smile organises, allowing the families to have beautiful, special moments that their difficult journey might otherwise prevent.”

Tell us a little about the importance of the spoken word and your poetry
“Because there is no “script” I can create everything to exactly suit each individual child, their family, and the moment. I also adapt the style depending on the age and personalities involved. While I love performing to all ages, I seem to be particularly successful with some of our more (apparently) difficult-to-please teenagers… who might generally tell people they don’t want any “entertainment”. I love finding a way to get them to respond and, when they fully engage in the moment, it’s great to see the difference it makes. What I do is obviously very different and I truly feel it’s an honour to be able to share this with these amazing patients and families.”

Have you ever been ‘stumped’ by a word request?
“While I’ve never been unable to do a poem using the words they offer, I do get some unusual ones thrown at me.  Sometimes they even want me to find a rhyme for the names of their medicines!  Fortunately, I love a challenge!”

Second Teen Brunch at Mallow

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During the May half-term, we were delighted to return to the gorgeous plant-based restaurant, Mallow in Borough Market, for our second Teen Brunch.

Being a teenager in hospital and undergoing treatment for serious illness can be extremely challenging and isolating, with long periods of time spent away from friends and social activities and limited entertainment options. Spread a Smile’s Teen Brunches are aimed at young people over the age of 12, and are a bespoke opportunity for them to enjoy themselves and meet other young people in a relaxed and welcoming environment.

10 families joined us (25 people in total), with guests enjoying a delicious vegan brunch including scrambled tofu, pancakes, toasties, fruit kebabs and yoghurt with fruits. Spread a Smile entertainers Rosie and Collette performed a medley of pop songs and requests from the families, with magician Nick Einhorn sharing his magic skills and more team members on hand with arts, crafts and glitter tattoos.

The Teen Brunches create a wonderful sense of togetherness, and it was heartwarming to see everyone chatting and enjoying time together over a delicious meal.

Our thanks as always to the brilliant team at Mallow for their support and kindness in making these get togethers possible.

If you would like to find out more about how you or your company can get involved with supporting Spread a Smile, please reach out to our Partnerships Manager, Rosie at rosie@spreadasmile.org – thank you.

Sponsor a therapy dog

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Spread a Smile’s therapy dogs are an integral part of our team of entertainers. They have a unique way of providing physical warmth and affection, distraction and fun. They offer support during stressful or painful medical procedures and can help with rehabilitation and physio exercises. They also help to bring happiness and familiarity for children who are missing their pets at home.

Spread a Smile currently has six amazing therapy dogs working with us, Buddy, Cobi, Harry, Scout, Smartie and Thomas, each bringing so much comfort to children they meet in hospital, plus to wider family members and staff.

 

“We’ve loved the therapy dog visits as we have a dog at home, so whenever Teddy saw one of the Spread a Smile dogs, his face would just light up. He loved stroking them, giving them treats and rolling the ball to them. It was wonderful to watch.”

By sponsoring a Spread a Smile therapy dog, you’ll be helping to ensure they can continue to be there during the most difficult times, providing support in hospital, at our family events and also through focussed initiatives in specialist areas. One example is our work with The Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospitals, one of UCLH’s specialist hospitals. The Paediatric Dentistry Unit sees complex patients for whom a typical dental visit in primary care would be difficult and since November 2022, we have been trialling the use of therapy dogs to provide support for patients to help reduce anxiety and stress.

Spread a Smile doesn’t receive any government funding and we rely completely on generous donors, companies, fundraisers and supporters to continue our work bringing joy and happiness to seriously ill children, young people and their families across the country.

Click here to meet each of our therapy dogs and find out more about sponsoring Buddy, Cobi, Harry, Scout, Smartie and Thomas, or email Rosie at rosie@spreadasmile.org to get the ball rolling. Together we can ensure our therapy dogs continue to be there for children in hospital during some of the most difficult times of their lives.

Supporting wellbeing and positive mental health

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Spread a Smile is committed to mental health support, for the families we meet through our entertainer visits, virtual sessions and family events and also for our team, through mental health first aid training and support.

12 – 18 May is Mental Health Awareness Week and we’re shining a spotlight on our work supporting the mental health of all of those we come into contact with as an organisation.

Every day, our entertainers visit children in hospitals and hospices, spreading smiles, making connections and bringing a little bit of joy and happiness during some very difficult times.

“Our entertainer visits are all about making time spent in hospital just a little bit easier. The impact of being in hospital can be huge, particularly if a child is very unwell and has been in hospital for a while, away from family and friends and everything they know and that makes them feel safe. Our entertainers focus on each child as an individual, making them feel special and giving them space and time to just have fun and be a child again. Sharing a smile or a positive experience can go a long way. Our visits are always met with such positive feedback with 100% of healthcare professionals reporting that Spread a Smile entertainer visits have a positive impact on mental health and emotional wellbeing.” (Spread a Smile Healthcare Professional Survey, April – Oct 2024)

The need for mental health support is growing: one in five children in England has a probable mental disorder (Mental Health of Children and Young People Survey, 2023). Spread a Smile currently supports children, young people and families at 39 NHS hospitals and 6 hospices. This includes The Mildred Creak Unit (MCU) at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), a small, intensive intervention unit which supports children aged 7-13 facing complex mental health challenges, including eating disorders and behavioural difficulties. The MCU offers a vital lifeline during difficult times and Spread a Smile is proud to have been supporting the Unit since July 2022 through special bespoke art initiatives and programmes.

Over the last year, Spread a Smile delivered 14 art and entertainment workshops during school holidays, working with the Unit’s Play Specialist and nursing staff to create a safe, supportive space. These workshops allow patients to reconnect with their identities, build confidence, express themselves and process emotions in different ways whilst being part of a shared experience which gives space to take pride in their accomplishments.

We also ran a six week Summer Art Programme in 2024 for children aged 10-16, during which children participated in sessions with professional artists, covering themes including Piaget clocks and Pointillism.

Spread a Smile’s sessions and support have been met with incredibly positive feedback and it’s been wonderful to see the progress made by patients. One patient, initially non-communicative, gradually engaged in activities and, after six months, was confidently chatting and leading a session, with staff describing her transformation as remarkable.

Laura Walter said, “Our work with the MCU shows the profound impact that creative, play-based interventions can have. As the numbers of children experiencing mental health difficulties grow, the work of the MCU and our support for it is more important than ever. We are proud that Spread a Smile’s interactions are making a meaningful difference for children experiencing mental health issues, providing moments of connection and expression, supporting emotional wellbeing and complementing the exceptional care from the MCU staff.”

To find out more about Spread a Smile’s work, visit spreadasmile.org

Egg-cellent Easter activities for all

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Seasonal holidays such as Christmas or Easter can often be a difficult time for families with a seriously ill child and managing illness or spending time in hospital often means that families are not able to do all the things they’d like to do. At Spread a Smile, we try and bring a little bit of fun to these times, when it’s really needed, and for Easter 2025, we organised a range of exciting activities to support children and young people in hospital and at home.

🐣Easter treat drop – Thanks to generous support from our friends at Hain Daniels, we delivered thousands of chocolate eggs, cuddly toys and games to all of our NHS hospital partners for staff to give out to seriously ill children on the wards.

As always, the lovely team at DPD UK supported us with the deliveries, and we’re grateful to them and everyone who donated eggs and gifts including ABC Bridging, All Aboard Charity Shops,  Alt HAN Co, ICAB, Garden House School, Hasbro, Mouse House, Rob Key and Scor.

🐰Easter bunny visit – The Easter bunny hopped along to join our team of entertainers on hospital visits to University College Hospital, London, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), Evelina London Children’s Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital, giving out gifts and helping to bring a little bit of Spring happiness to the wards.

🎈Egg-cellent virtual visits – We also organised some exciting virtual sessions for families to enjoy at home, including biscuit decorating, balloon modelling, Easter art and a new collaborative dance workshop with I Can Dance UK, for young people with additional needs.

Thank you again to everyone who has helped make all of the above possible and please do get in touch by emailing fundraising@spreadasmile.org if you’d like to support our seasonal activities in the future.

Happy 12th Birthday Spread a Smile

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On 11 April 2025, Spread a Smile celebrated 12 years since the charity was founded, with a special party for patients and families in The Lagoon at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

We were delighted to welcome our friends from Redstor who kindly supported the event, and it was such a lovely day, with music, magic, fairy fun, balloons and delicious cupcakes from the amazing Lola’s Cupcakes. There was so much fun to be had by the patients, families and staff that joined us, and it was lovely to celebrate with everyone at GOSH, where our work began 12 years ago.

In 2013, Co-Founder Josephine’s young nephew, Aaron, was receiving treatment at GOSH. After noticing that Aaron was becoming increasingly withdrawn, Josephine arranged for a magician to visit. It had the most remarkable effect: Aaron’s spirits were lifted and his treatment became more bearable.

As a result, Aaron asked if magicians could also visit friends that he’d met on the ward and Josephine promised Aaron she would find a way to make it happen. Josephine teamed up with friend and former colleague Vanessa Crocker and working closely with GOSH, they founded Spread a Smile.

Since then, the Spread a Smile has continued to work closely with the team at GOSH to spread smiles to patients across the wards, providing regular in person entertainer visits, online sessions, treat drops and much more.

We are extremely proud of our work over the past 12 years spreading smiles to thousands of seriously ill children and their families and extremely grateful to all of our supporters for helping to make it all possible.

Please email us if you or your company would like to find out more about supporting future events like this – we’d love to hear from you!

A huge thank you to Redstor and Neil, Olena, Kateryna and Philipos for supporting the party and here’s to many more years spreading joy and happiness when it’s needed most.

Spread a Smile superheroes wear running trainers

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It seems apt that the day after the TCS London Marathon is National Superheroes Day. So today on 28 April, we’re celebrating our 17 brilliant, superhero London Marathon runners for taking on this iconic event on behalf of Spread a Smile and together raising over £53,000 to support our vital work spreading smiles to seriously ill children and young people.

It really was an incredible day with an incredible atmosphere, with the largest team of runners we’ve ever seen running for Team Smile.

We joined our friends from Children with Cancer UK along the route at miles 6, 12 and 24 to make sure we showed as much support as possible to our team. After the race, we welcomed many of our runners to a post run party with Children with Cancer UK, with Spread a Smile entertainers hosting the children’s entertainment area. Fairy Jasmin was there to spread some Spread a Smile sparkle, artist Sophie delighted with her creative face painting and magicians Ian and Nick brought the magic touch to the party.

We can’t thank our runners – Andrei, Cara, Carly, Chris, Craig, Dylan, Gavin, Hazel, Jack, Joseph, Max, Myfanwy, Nat, Nick, Ollie, Richard and Will – enough for their support and commitment. Together they have raised an incredible amount which will make a huge impact to our work brining joy and laughter to seriously ill children and young people during their darkest times.

Join Team Smile in 2026!  Click here to register your interest for a Team Smile 2026 London Marathon places Or email us to find out about joining us for the London to Brighton bike ride or our Three Peaks Challenge.

Liam Conlon MP joins Spread a Smile hospital visit

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Liam Conlon, the MP for Beckenham and Penge, joined Lucy Jackson, Spread a Smile CEO, on a visit to King’s College Hospital yesterday (Wednesday 23rd April), where he met some of the children and families that Spread a Smile support and saw their work first-hand.

Spread a Smile works in partnership with the Play Team at King’s College Hospital to spread smiles, bring joy, entertainment, and moments of respite. During the visit, Mr Conlon met with young patients, their families, and NHS staff, and witnessed first-hand the powerful impact of the charity’s in-hospital entertainers. On the day we were joined by Collette, a Spread a Smile singer, and Nick, a magician.

Mr Conlon’s visit was particularly poignant given his personal connection to the NHS. As a teenager, he spent several years undergoing treatment at the Royal London Hospital and Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital following a serious accident at age 13.

While it is not the hospital where Liam was treated, King’s College Hospital treats hundreds of his constituents in Beckenham and Penge every year. Mr Conlon said the experience of visiting another children’s ward was “important to him.”

He said, “Today’s visit was very special to me because it is personal. I spent years growing up on NHS children’s wards as a teenager after an accident at 13, and I owe so much to the NHS. And whilst children’s wards are in some ways a grim reality, they are also places of great hope, deep compassion, and world-class care. That is made possible by NHS staff and the people behind incredible initiatives like Spread a Smile which will make such a difference to children and their families.”

“I’m so grateful to the Spread a Smile team and the staff at King’s for the incredible work they do every single day.”

Spread a Smile currently partners with 39 NHS hospitals and six hospices across the UK, delivering in-person and virtual entertainment. Their partnership with King’s started in January 2020 and we currently make three visits a month to the hospital and have plans to increase this in the coming months.

A huge thank you to Mr Conlan for joining us on the visit and to all the team at Kings College Hospital for their support. Find out more about Spread a Smile’s work here.