The kids, parents and volunteers present at the Gold Coast Hospital on Wednesday 18th July were at the right place at the right time when Catwoman, Batman, Scooby Doo, Shaggy and Daphne from Warner Bros Movie World came in for a ward visit.

The kids absolutely adored having their favourite Superheroes and Cartoon Characters visit them in the flesh. At first a few people were intimidated by Catwoman’s long nails but everyone soon warmed to all the characters making it a magical evening for all involved. Shaggy, Scooby & Daphne joked around bringing a smile to everyone’s face and Batman volunteered to compete in the ping pong challenge.

A big thank you to Tim McDonald & Christophe Broadway from Movie World for coordinating the visit and to Renee Dempsey from Brisbane Lollipop for doing the ground work for us.

Despite heavy rain doing its best to spoil our 25th birthday celebrations, Newcastle pulled out all the stops this weekend to give their sick children a party to remember.

The Big Red Picnic was a great afternoon for the 50 invited children and their families. Ex-volunteers and supporters came together with current volunteers from all over the country to provide a buffet, competitions, goody bags, a magic show, prizes, a balloon launch and other fun and activities. These are the kind of memories Lollipop was made for!

Whilst the party was fantastic fun for all, it had a serious message: congratulations to the charity for working with thousands of sick children and raising over a quarter of a million pounds through 25 years of providing play, comfort and care to North East kids in two hospitals in Newcastle.

Of course the charity wouldn’t be celebrating at all without its team of dedicated volunteers and special mention must go to Heather Corbett and Iris Richardson who have both provided in excess of 10 years service to the Newcastle station and received their gold service awards.

“The most important thing about the party was that the children had an excellent day. Some of the sick children from the wards managed to come down and join in and those who couldn’t were given special goody bags and a share of the food” said volunteer Kate Fenwick.

Radio Lollipop Newcastle’s next big challenge is to raise £25,000 to cover the cost of installing their new studio. Helen Hudspith, a volunteer from Newcastle said of the new studio

“We want it to be awesome! Somewhere amazing that the kids can come for a great time. You can see from today’s party that sick kids deserve every chance to just be kids and enjoy themselves. If we can raise the money, we’ll get an all-singing, all-dancing studio to push us on to another 25 years. Our kids deserve it!”

If you think you can help with our studio appeal, please visit our website at

www.justgiving.com/RL-Newcastle

or E-mail us through our contact page.

The Edinburgh Team are delighted to be holding a black tie event in aid of the charity.

The event will take place on the evening of 12th October 2007 at The Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa in Edinburgh. Tickets are £50.00 and include a three-course meal with champagne reception and various entertainments across the evening. There will also be a charity raffle.

The team are really looking forward to this event and wish it every success!

Newcastle are gearing up to celebrate 25 years of Radio Lollipop in the region with our BIG RED picnic party.

The station will be holding a balloon launch, cake cutting, magic performance, Radio Lollipop roadshwo and a whole host of competitions and giveaways.

The party takes place on 21st July from 12 – 4 pm. Come along and celebrate with us.

135 special guests have been invited to join the party. Even so, the party is open to all. However, only invited guests will be served food on the day.