Every year my folks reach for the tissues and their wallets to watch the live show of Children in Need on the BBC. It’s a UK charity telethon helping to raise money for children and young people in the UK who are going through a tough time. My mummy has been watching it since she was a child and has helped contribute to the fundraising efforts through activities and donations.
It’s been a big part of her life growing up. Every time she sees the logo of Pudsey Bear it gives her mixed feelings of sadness that children still need help but hope that we’re striving to help them as a nation. It makes her very proud of the UK that so many people come forward to help raise money for this great charity.
Here’s some little facts about Children in Need…
1) The BBC’s first broadcast appeal for children took place in 1927, in the form of a five-minute radio broadcast on Christmas Day.
2) The first televised appeal was the 1955 ‘Children’s Hour Christmas Appeal’, presented by Sooty and Harry Corbett. The Christmas Day Appeals continued on TV and radio right up until 1979, raising a total of £625,836.
3) In 1978 and 1979, Terry Wogan began to feature in the appeals. He was the best!
4) Pudsey Bear made his television debut in 1985 when Terry introduced the new, brown cuddly mascot to the audience. My mummy was 5 when this happened and remembers Pudsey from her childhood.
5) Pudsey Bear instantly transformed the Children in Need brand. He was created by BBC designer Joanna Ball, and took his name from her home town in Yorkshire.
6) The ‘P’ sound is one of the most easiest to pronounce for those with speech impediments and the spelling of ‘Pudsey’ flows easily for those coping with learning difficulties, have dyslexia, or simply young children being taught to read.
7) Pudsey Bear proved very popular and returned as BBC Children in Need’s official logo in 1986 with his design amended to that of a yellow bear with a red-spotted bandage. The BBC treasures two Pudsey bears in particular: the original, and a more recent example, signed by George Bush and Tony Blair.
8) Apart from a party hat worn in 2004 to celebrate the telethon’s silver jubilee, Pudsey has remained very much the same. Losing a couple of buttons along the way. In 2007 a revamp gave Pudsey a fresh new look and brighter colours in time for the 28th annual BBC Children in Need Appeal.
9) Pudsey was joined by his soul mate, a brown bear called Blush in 2009 and they have been together ever since. They have received letters, drawings and e-mails from youngsters all over the UK and been photographed with loads of celebrities.
10) This year’s Children in Need campaign on November 13, 2015 will mark the thirtieth birthday of Pudsey Bear, who had been the charity’s mascot since 1985. He’s 30!! Woweeeee where has time gone?!
Will you be switching over to watch BBC’s Children In Need tonight? We’re looking forward to watching Shane Richie and Fearne Cotton help present the show alongside Nick Grimshaw and Tess Daly. It starts at 7.30pm and has a whole host of celebrities helping to raise money for disadvantaged, disabled children. Let’s see if they can beat their last broadcast fundraising figure of £32 Million!
Love Bella x
dearmummyblog.com 
I love Pudsey bear and am very excited about watching it tonight, My kids went off to school one in PJ’s and one in spotty clothes today to raise money. I love how CIN is such a big part of our lives now.
Aww I bet they looked sweet!! x My mummy would like to go to work in her PJs 😉
That’s lovely that your mum has been so heavily involved in it. I love watching it so will definitely be tuning in this eve x
I love watching Children in Need each year. It’s amazing to see the whole nation clubbing together to raise as much as they can for such an awesome cause. I’ll be watching tonight.
we watch every year and donate, it is a wonderful cause and long may it continue x
I only knew it was CIN today because of some other blogs I had read this week, there seems to have been so little about it x
Yeah it’s been eclipsed by the Sainsbury’s and John Lewis Christmas Adverts!!!
I can remember watching Pudsey on tv when I was little, he seemed like a giant to me at the time. He is an enduring icon of Children in Need
He is an amazing mascot and recognised by everybody I would think. Have to say I dont watch the programme any more though we did use to many years ago. The older girls use to like the programme when they were young and we use to be involved with the fund raising in our area and they have been to the Glasgow studio as part of a large party before to hand over a cheque.
It’s amazing, it’s just wonderful all the good that the campaign has done.
And on a side note (I turned 30 on Wednesday and feel better knowing I am in good company with Pudsey!)
Happy Birthday for Wednesday Jenni! 🙂
I always look forward to the sketches on Children in Need and for years I worked in the call in centre that they had in JPM – great fun
It’s such a great event – it’s incredibly sad but also make you count your blessings and contribute! Kaz x
I am always so touched by Children in Need and I think that they have done brilliantly for keeping it going for so long. Thank you for linking to #PoCoLo x
I’m always astounded by how much money is raised for Children in Need and can’t believe that they managed to break their previous fundraising record again this year :o)
How interesting! I had no idea how far back the history went though I remember it from my childhood. It’s the first year my 4 year old has started to understand the initiative too and enjoyed raising money for it.
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