Earlier this week, the UK united together in celebrating the 39th year of Children in need which was hosted by presenters Tess Daly, Ade Adepitan, Graham Norton and Mel Giedroyc, Tom Allen, Marvin and Rochelle Humes.
This show is about helping to make a positive impact and change to a young person’s life, the BBC fundraising programme highlights the most wonderful young true heroes.
Louis Tomlinson also took to the stage to perform his new track called ‘We made it’. An inspiring track about coming through hard times, off his upcoming album Walls. Louis also visited a charity which is funded by money raised from the fundraising extravaganza, to see the work they do, Youth on Solid Ground, based in Manchester.
Westlife performed their new single ‘My blood’ off their latest album Spectrum, the song highlighting the love between children and their parents.
Himesh Patel who played Tamara Masood in EastEnders presented an incredible and heart-warming story about young twins Sam and Alex. These two inspirational boys were born with spinal muscular atrophy. This is a life-limiting, muscle wasting disease. However, Sam and Alex continue to not give up and they live life to the fullest by having fun and making a whole lot of joy out of their lives. They’re 2 strong people who are a big influence.
The programme also spoke about other young exhilarating people. Young people such as 10-year-old Shiann who has Cystic Fibrosis which is a disease that affects the lungs on not able to breathe properly. Young Shiann visits his hospital every 2 months and stays there for 2 weeks. But no matter how bad life gets for him, he refuses to get down and he always keeps fighting. This is just another heartening story that has inspired many.
In addition to the inspiring stories, Nick Knowles and DIY SOS helped built 6 self-contained flats to help young people who were homeless and living on the streets. DIY SOS has raised £20,000 working on the project.
The general public also go involved with loads of cool fundraising activities in the week leading up to Children in Need or ‘Pudsey day’ as it’s affectionately known. Stores such as Greggs have helped by selling Pudsey ring cakes and cookies.
Oscar and Ester who fundraised through doing charity runs and cycling for the 4th year running. were presented with the Terry Wogan Fundraiser of the year award by Mark Wogan.
People have also fundraised in different ways; BBC one show presenter Matt Baker and six young people did the Rickshaw challenge which was a cycling challenge that saw them travel 400 miles in over 8 days this week; they cycled from Holyhead to London. From this, they raised £5,520,680! Furthermore, Star Wars cast members Daisey Ridley and John Boyeda challenged YouTuber Star Wars fan Colin Furse to build a real working land speeder from the first-ever Star Wars – and yes, he did build it and to help raise money Colin will sell it on eBay to help raise money.
A lot of extrodinary acts appeared… First up Big the musical opened Children in need starring Jay McGuiness, Kimberly Walsh, Matthew Kelly and Wendi Peters. Speaking of musicals, there was also the Tina Turner musical that appeared on BBC too; both were joyful and a whole lot of fun!
As well as this EastEnders stars hit the dance floor for EastEnders strictly. The stars who got involved were Maisey Smith who plays Tiffany butcher which paired up with dancer Kevin Cliffton,80-year old Rudolph Walker who plays Patrick which paired with Nancy Xu, strictly veteran Louisa Lytton who plays Ruby Allen paired up with Gorba Marquez and finally Ricky Champ who plays Stuart Highway paired up with Luba Mushtuk. All-stars danced marvellously and Strictly judges Bruno, Shirley, Craig and Motsi were blown away but there was only one winner… it was Maisey Smith who won the Golden Pudsey trophy! Well done Maisey!
In the programme they entertained people with a 1903 circus which was performed with some great and mind-blowing dancers and acts… even Mel took part with her trendy circus outfit. And last but not least we heard about the great album ‘Got it covered’ =filled with well-known songs sung by some amazing celebrities including David Tennant, Helena Bonham Carter and Jodi Whittaker.
But the best news is that … this year’s children in Need appeal raised £47.9 million!
Tell us your thoughts on Children in Need 2019, what was your favourite part? Let us know on @CelebMix