We’re proud to be supporting the BBC’s Children In Need campaign this year, and we will be doing some fund raising activities in store!
- Buy cakes in store
- Donate to our collection bucket
- Buy a knife and fork set ( for the truckers out there)
- Raffle tickets ( win a free hoodie!)
So come on down, and help out a fantastic cause by donating today! So what is Children in Need? We’ve written up a little bit of history on the cause, and their endearing mascot, Pudsey the Bear 🙂
Children in Need – a brief history
The BBC first appealed for children via a five minute radio broadcast, which went out on Christmas Day all the way back in 1927! The campaign was a great success, and raised a total of £1,143 18s 3d – doesn’t seem much by todays standards, but it is actually the equivalent of £461,500 in todays money!
That money was split between four prominent children’s charities.
The first televised appeal would have to wait another 28Â years, when the Children’s Hour Christmas Appeal was televised in 1955 – presented by Harry Corbett and Sooty. These televised appeals continued up until 1979. Over that time, there were a number of people who got involved with presenting – Terry Hall, Aemonn Andrews, Leslie Crowther, Michael Aspel – and one of the emerging talents fresh from BBC Radio 2, a man by the name of Terry Wogan.
In 1980, the BBC decided to broadcast in their newly conceived “Telethon” format – which revolutionised the format of the broadcast, which helped to increase donations over previous years.
Who is Pudsey?
Pudsey is the mascot of Children in Need cause, and he made his television debut in 1985, and was introduced by Terry Wogan. The initial design was a cute, fuzzy brown bear created by a BBC graphics designer named Joanna Ball, naming him after the West Yorkshire town Pudsey, near Bradford and Leeds.
The popularity of this new character was unprecedented, and the following year Pudsey returned as the official logo of BBC Children in Need, albeit in a revised format which is more in line with the character we know today – a yellow bear with a red spotted bandage. This design remained practically the same up until 2007 when he was given a slight makeover for the telethons 28th anniversary.
Ways to Donate
There are a number of ways in which you can donate! We’re selling cakes in our retail store, and will have a donations bucket available for all customers should you wish to help!
You can also donate by texting BBC Children in Need directly, and follow them on Twitter for all the latest news.