The middle Friday in November has, for the past few years, turned into a night of fun, frolics and fundraising which can only mean one thing – BBC Children in Need.

The Radio Lollipop team in Glasgow once again entertained the crowds of fundraisers arriving at the BBC Studios in Glasgow. The Scottish crowd looked excited to see the 2002 Fame Academy winner David Sneddon, Radio Scotland anchor Jackie Bird and some of TV’s River City cast members. Scott the Bear made a personal appearance and looked like he signed more autographs than David Sneddon. This lead to David being a little jealous but all was sorted out when Scott agreed to have a picture with him.

Volunteers from Radio Lollipop were delighted to be involved in the record-breaking night and by 2am Saturday morning, as Pudsey Bear finally made his way to bed, £15,305,212 had been raised for BBC Children in Need.

For more information on Children in Need check out the website at www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey

The spirit of Christmas arrived early in Southampton on 15th November when the Mayor of Southampton, Councillor Parvin Damani, switched on a display of Christmas lights to raise funds for Radio Lollipop.

Rob and Rachel Cleverley, who live in Sholing in Southampton, are using donations from visitors to their display of Christmas lights to help the work of Radio Lollipop. Visitors on the opening night were treated to a spectacular display featuring 10,000 light bulbs. This is the second event Rob and Rachel have hosted in support of Radio Lollipop this year. In August they held an open weekend for visitors to see the model village in their garden which raised £230.

Steve Read, Honorary Chairman of Radio Lollipop at Southampton General Hospital, was impressed with the festive illuminations. “This is a wonderful display, and I hope people living near Southampton will come and look at these lights. It will certainly put them in the mood for Christmas, and they can help the work of Radio Lollipop at the same time.”, he said.

The display is at 118 Bracklesham Close, Sholing and runs until 6th January 2004.

Radio Lollipop (Manchester) has had its mobile Roadshow Trailer since 1991 and is responsible for generating approximately 40% of the annual station income.

Over the last 6 years Brian Davies a volunteer has towed the roadshow trailer to all events. Brian works for Forrest Joinery who allowed Brian to use a company vehicle to tow the trailer which saved Radio Lollipop £700.00 per year. This year Brian had to take time out, which left us with no driver or vehicle. We had to move quickly as the Roadshow season was about to start but where do you get a driver and van at such short notice especially as very few van hire companies have vans with tow bars due to insurance costs?

We decided to put an advert in the Manchester Evening News voluntary section, as this has been very successful for volunteers in the past. Within two days of the advert we had received six calls. One stood out from the rest, Colin Ryan from Transrent Trailer Rental Ltd based in Carrington asked us to call him back. Kevin Breen met Colin but Transrent mainly deal with Articulated Vehicles and Trailers so Colin put us in touch with his colleague Gareth Hardy of Stockport Truck Centre based in Bredbury in Stockport. Gareth instantly agreed to help us with our plight and said he would get a driver and one of STC’s vans for the 2003 events. The driver was Paul Phillips of STC. Paul integrated in to the team very quickly and not only delivers and collects the trailer but also helps set up the roadshow for each event.

Paul has become a great team player who is well liked by all of the roadshow team with his quick wit and banter and has fitted in very well. Paul and his wife recently attended our 60’s Disco Night, which was organised by our Fundraiser Sharon Devlin. Paul may be slick behind the wheel but he is murder on the dance floor (Sorry Paul)? A big Lollipop thank you to Paul, Colin and Gareth for your support. If you would like more information on Stockport Truck Centre ring 0161 494 9200 for some great deals. If you would like information on hiring our Roadshow for one of your events ring 0161 794 4340.

One half of ‘Real Radio’s Breakfast Show’ Marie-Clair (pictured far right) found the time in her busy schedule to pop in and try and help the Thursday night team in Glasgow by showing them how radio should work! Not only did she find the time to visit the children on most of the wards she also answered the phones and even treated them to her own version of the very famous ‘Hey Baby’, which, depending on who you ask, is much better than the DJ Otzi version.

The studio was full to the brim with kids and adults alike, who couldn’t resist the temptation to pick up their free ‘Real Radio’ goodies and a glimpse at the lovely lady herself.

Catch Marie-Clair and her partner in crime, the original wind-up merchant, Robin Galloway on 100-101fm or http://www.realradiofm.com/scotland