Children In Need

On Friday November 16th, all of the UK watched Children In Need on the BBC. This was my first time watching and I learned that it is an annual event, and this is the big 7-hour-variety-show push for donations. All the money goes to children around the UK who are in need of financial help, or their family is. They have video stories about different children that have been helped, and there are a bunch of famous performers (UK and worldwide) who make up the show.

Many people came up with creative ways for the “Do Something Different” theme to raise money for Children In Need and some of them got a chance to quickly tell how much they raised and how. Nearly all the big-name stores in the UK raise money and/or donate from the company. Oh and I almost forgot – Pudsey the one-eyed bear is the mascot!

This year the Appeal Night got them to £19,089,771 so far! 11.3 million viewers tuned in and they beat last year already as it was £18.3 million. They are still raising money so I have to go down to Boots and get a little Pudsey pin and donate a couple pounds.

A lot of the performances from the Appeal Night were very UK-based and CW had to explain who they were, but I did know a few. The Spice Girls and Kylie Minogue performed; there was a Doctor Who clip where the 5th and 10th Doctor’s met due to time-travel; a Junior version of The Dragon’s Den where kids pitched their ideas to the “Dragons” (rich entrepreneurs) and the Dragons would decide to fund it or not; Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne showed up; and some casts from soaps like EastEnders and News Readers did a couple songs too.