Children in Need helping causes across the south

Fundraising activities are taking place across the south as part of this year's BBC Children in Need.

Children in Need supports more than 1,600 local charities across the UK, including projects in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight.

Last year's appeal raised more than £45m to help children and young people across the UK, and this year's TV event will be broadcast from 19:00 GMT.

It will include the BBC Children in Need choir, which brings together 16 young people from BBC Children in Need-funded projects across the UK, including Mabel, from Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

They will be singing a medley of Stargazing by Myles Smith and You Got the Love by Florence + The Machine.

Mabel goes to the Yellow Submarine project in Oxford, which supports people with learning disabilities and autism.

The 13-year-old, who has autism, ADHD, cerebral palsy, anxiety, and traits of OCD, said: "It means a lot to me, because I got chosen to do it which is really nice, and it's the stuff I enjoy doing. I enjoy singing, acting.

"I'm excited. It's going to be a bit stressful but once I'm on stage and I understand everything that's happening I think it's going to be really fun."

Beth Simpson, young people's programme manager at the charity, said: "It's massively important for one of our young people to be featured in the choir and it's so exciting as well, not just for Mabel and the Yellow Submarine team, but for all our young people to see her on stage, and be supporting her from their own homes."

She added: "Children in Need is a brilliant cause. We receive multi-year funding from them which is life-changing for us as a small charity in Oxfordshire.

"It allows us to do more of everything, so to be able to take part in more opportunities with Children in Need that involves Mabel as part of the choir is really exciting."

Elsewhere, Rowan's Hospice in Waterlooville's Meerkat Service helps bereaved young people like Esther whose father died from cancer.

"The Children in Need grant was just shy of £98,000 for three years which allowed us to fund a child bereavement specialist for that time," Vikki Hill, who helps run the service, explained.

"That funding for the last year alone has allowed us as a small team to support nearly 200 children."

Esther said people were avoiding her after her father died when she was 15.

"Going to the group really helped, and other people have also had that experience, but then you also find people who aren't afraid to talk about it and aren't trying to put it off," she said.

"I'm so grateful I found the Meerkat Service because I feel like without it I would be so lost to where I am right now."

Children's bereavement charity Daisy's Dream in Reading also benefits from funding.

It is supporting 16-year-old Amelia, whose dad died of pancreatic cancer when she was nine.

"It helped me so much knowing I wasn't alone going through the grief because people don't really talk about it," she said.

"It's quite a taboo thing to talk about with your friends - especially a parent, such a big role model in your life - and I know how sad it can be thinking you're alone."

Lizzie Stead, Chair of Trustees at Home-Start Reading, which supports families with at least one child under the age of five who are going through difficult and overwhelming times, said the money from Children in Need "really helped to stabilise some of our core home visiting services provided by volunteers".

She said: "We have a tiny team of people who are employed to help them as volunteers to be able to deliver that work.

"The money we have from Children in Need is essential to be able to do that."

Hart & Rushmoor Young Carers in north Hampshire aims to connect young carers "so they know they're not alone and give them time to have some fun and be a child again".

Lindsay Graham explained: "We provide emotional support and respite for young people aged seven to 25 living in Hart & Rushmoor that provide unpaid care to a family member."

She said the £75,000-grant over three years was "make or break for us".

Katie, who has been attending since she was aged nine, and helps look after her dad, mum, and sister, said: "I look forward to Thursdays and my Tuesdays every week.

"I'm definitely more patient, a little bit more understanding.

"I can have that time for me and then I can go back and be my helpful-self I guess."

Fundraising activities have been taking place too.

BBC Radio Oxford's Dan Freeman and Sophie Rumsby each took part in a half marathon challenge as part of the Run for Pudsey initiative which has seen schools and community groups clocking in miles to raise money.

John Sinclair, from Langton Matravers, who walked the south west coast path, said: "Speaking to people along the course of the route who are so interested in what I'm doing, complete strangers who donate, has been wonderful.

"It really restores your faith in humanity."

The fundraising at Park Community School in Havant included a talent show, which raised more than £3,000.

"We've got some really good singers… goosebumps," teacher Leeanne Wingham said afterwards.

"We had our primary school performance with dancing. So much sass, it was amazing."

Gary Spracklen, headteacher and head of federation for the Wyke Regis Primary Federation, which includes Wyke Regis Infant School and Nursery and Wyke Regis Church of England Junior School, said "the excitement has been building all week".

"We've got people walking around in their pyjamas this morning, and we're running a number of competitions right across the school from our school-based nursery right up to Year 6," he explained.

"I think it's a wonderful opportunity to raise some money for a good cause while of course having lots of fun."