St John's Pupil wins top Pudsey prize!

Published by Dean Close School (St Johns) on Monday 21st of November 2022

We are so proud of Year 6 pupil, Dante who completed a five day hike up Sugarloaf Mountain in the Brecon Beacons to raise money for Children in Need earlier this year. The last few weeks have taken him on an equally long media tour. Dante was recently nominated for the Sir Terry Wogan Young Fundraiser of the Year Award. From thousands of nominations he was shortlisted by Children in Need to the last 6, then again down to the final last 3 finalists. From there he was interviewed on BBC Radio 2 by Michael Ball, where he talked about his charity hike, followed by a live interview on on BBC breakfast radio and TV, then on to Manchester for Blue Peter and Children in Need. Dante then spent the day in Manchester's Media City where he rehearsed for the Blue Peter Children in Need Special, which was broadcast live at 5pm. They revealed the winner on air and Dante was presented with a silver Pudsey Bear trophy, a silver Blue Peter badge and two tickets to Go Ape. Dante is the first Sir Terry Wogan Fundraiser of the Year, and one of the first to receive a silver Blue Peter badge. The TV crew were very pleased at Dante's performance. He was calm and professional and needed very little direction. After the broadcast, he was taken over to the Children in Need studio where he was guest of honour. They gave him a large fluffy Pudsey as a present. The next morning he appeared live on breakfast TV/Radio with BBC Wales and talked about winning, followed by another live interview in London with Michael Ball where he talked about his charity hike and award. Michael was very nice and was astounded at how calm and eloquent he was. Dante was given a tour of the Radio studio, including the news desk where he got to have a go at reading the news. At the end he got to play Elton John's piano in the studio and he did a special performance for Michael, who said he was very talented! Dante's mum says, "He has has a fabulous experience! He is ever so proud of his Pudsey trophy and silver Blue Peter badge! He's brought it in to show you and has some presents for his class." Well done Dante! What an absolutely amazing achievement!