It’s that time of year again, when the whole nation pulls together for the UK’s favourite and biggest charity event, Children in Need. This year it was the 33rd anniversary of the show and the televised appeal was hugely anticipated, as always.
The first show aired in 1980 and raised around a million pounds that was specifically aimed at distributing the money amongst charities within the UK. These charities were tasked with helping impoverished children, but in 1988 it became a registered charity in itself and it has flourished ever since. This year the charity raised a huge £31,124,896, an increase of £4,367,450 from last year’s £26,757,446.
The money raised goes to thousands of projects all over the UK who aim to improve the lives of children in a variety of ways. The BBC say on their website that they aim to give their grants to organisations that will “empower children and extend their life choices.” Over the years there has been some controversy surrounding the telethon. In 2006, the show was criticised for allegedly using donation money to pay administration costs. And later in 2007 it transpired that Terry Wogan was the only celebrity to be paid a reported £9,065. More recently there has been debate over whether the funding is going to appropriate groups and organisations.
However, this year’s event was a huge success, which underlines the importance of the telethon as a national children’s charity. Some highlights from this year’s show included The One Show’s Rickshaw Challenge in which a group of young people rode a rickshaw across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland to raise money, the newly formed McBusted singing a medley of all their best loved songs, and a sneak preview for the new Doctor Who episode scheduled to air on Saturday.
Photo Credits: www.webfronter.com, www.ichef.bbci.co.uk, www.bbc.co.uk,