Getting funny for money: what you did for Comic Relief (From Bournemouth Echo)

Getting funny for money: what you did for Comic Relief

11:00am Saturday 16th March 2013 in News By Caitlin Marsh

DORSET was painted in a wash of bright colours yesterday as people across the county raised funds for Comic Relief.

Whether they donned red noses, held competitions or made fools of themselves with jokes and more, it seems everyone was keen to do something funny for money.

• Tiger Ayres, a nine-year-old pupil at Malmesbury Park School in Bournemouth, donned a girl’s uniform for a week.

Tiger and his mum, Angela, also took to Bournemouth Square on Thursday with buckets, and have so far reached £140 in fundraising. His school also held a mufti day.

• Energetic Craig Oswell, 22, of Rossmore, assistant manager of TK Maxx, ran the 28 miles to work in Salisbury, and raised £300 in the process.

• Residents and carers at Colten Care’s Fernhill Home in Ferndown enjoyed a red nose egg and spoon race, hoola hoop contest, made a scarecrow and adorned a red car with a red nose, whilst wearing red noses, and charity T-shirts.

• La Tasca Bournemouth put their money where their mouths are in their man vs la tomatina challenge. For a £1 donation, staff and customers had to see who could eat the most tomatoes in 60 seconds.

• Halifax in Poole saw Darren Ellery, customer service adviser, jump into a bath filled with custard, dressed as a banana, whilst his colleagues pedalled 110 miles on an exercise bike, to cover the distance from Poole to Buckingham Palace.

• The team at Teachers Building Society in Wimborne wore red and held a bake sale, raffle and sweepstake

• Children from Talbot Combined School in Poole pulled on their best party frocks and trouser suits for an 80s themed fundraiser in aid of Comic Relief – blame it on the boogie.

• Wet sponges flew across the grounds at Bourne-mouth University as lecturers enc-ouraged their students to put their hands in their pockets for a chance to “Sponge the Lecturer”.

• Telemarketing company Astute Ltd turned their office into a call centre hotline to take donations for Comic Relief. The team manned the phones from 6pm until midnight to take in donations, and enjoyed everything from sponsored balloons to a pool tournament to a ’70s car wash.

• Staff from Beales in Poole turned their shop window into a moving display as they took turns pedalling on a static bike for six hours and sold homemade cakes to customers

• Level 3 VRQ students at Bournemouth and Poole College were busy baking through the night to produce various tasty treats from bake well tarts with red noses to Danish pastries, to sell at the College.

See all Daily Echo and reader pictures for Comic Relief in our gallery