Pudsey puts paw on bumper Shropshire fundraiser

Last year's national campaign raised more than £26 million on the night, and Shropshire fundraisers are pulling out all the stops again this year.

Throughout the county Post Office customers can buy pawprint tattoos at their local branch to support Children in Need.

The tattoos have been available since November 5 and among those promoting the appeal is Nikki Ray at Craven Arms Post Office. She said the tattoos were still available at the town's branch in Corvedale Road as part of Children in Need's BearFaced campaign.

The fundraising effort by pupils at Oswestry's Marches School will have an unusual twist this year. Every pupil has been asked to go in tomorrow dressed up as something beginning with the first letter of their school house name.

Many members of Mallory house have already volunteered to turn up to lessons with a drawn-on moustache, while members of Bonington House say they are looking into designing Bonington Bow Ties.

Meanwhile, more than 100 people helped Walford and North Shropshire College students raise money by going to a fashion show on Tuesday night.

Students and staff from the Visage Hair and Beauty Salon at the college held their show in the Oswestry campus theatre.

A quiz night in the Learning Centre at AFC Telford United's Bucks Head ground kicks off tonight at 7.30pm with a special version of the Wrekin Wrangler, the quiz that has been a popular feature on BBC Radio Shropshire for many years. Tickets cost £5 per person, available by calling (01952) 567546.

Bakery store Greggs has been letting Pudsey collect money at their shop in Market Drayton.

One woman who definitely gets into the spirit of Children in Need is Lynda Wilde, the community champion at Asda Living, on the Wrekin Retail Park, in Telford.

Lynda dressed up as Pudsey to visit schools including Aqueduct Primary and Honeybuns Nursery, in Grainger Drive, Leegomery, Telford, which has been running activities including a sponsored nursery rhyme marathon and a pyjama party.

Fundraisers including Paul Elliott of Ludlow, and the Shropshire Star's assistant editor Carl Jones, hope to have a licence to thrill, as they embark on a marathon 53-hour effort to watch 25 James Bond films back-to-back at Oakengates Picture House, starting at 9am tomorrow.

The day will also be busy for Telford-based Lyreco, one of only a handful of call centres to act on behalf of the BBC, taking donations. A spokesman said: "More than 100 staff will be here on the night manning the phones in aid of this worthy cause."

Staff at Shrewsbury's B&Q DIY store, in Featherbed Lane, have raised around £2,500 for Children in Need so far. Employees wore fancy dress to attract donations from customers, and staff members, Alex Pulling and Will Hessey, had their heads shaved.

In Welshpool, staff and pupils at Ardwyn Nursery and Infants School are dressing up in their pyjamas and bringing their own teddies in to class, and pupils at Ysgol Maesydre plan to dress up in spotty outfits.

Russell Cadwallader, headteacher, said: "We are urging everyone to come dressed up in something spotty to raise money. We will have various activities on through the day."