Wednesday 18 January 2012 was a little different. I went to Downing Street.

I was one of six Save the Children campaigners who went to hand in a petition calling on David Cameron to sign up to the Charter to End Extreme Hunger.

Each of us was representing one of the cities in the 66 Cities campaign — so I got a natty wee T-shirt with ‘St Albans Champion’ emblazoned across the front — but we were also representing the incredible 18,000 people who had signed up to the petition online.

DorkyDad took the day off work (thank you!), and I took a train into London. It was a true role reversal — he stayed at home with DorkySon while I headed to Save the Children’s office in Farringdon, where I was due to meet up with the other campaigners.

The day got off to a great start when I picked up a copy of The Guardian at the station, and a story about Save the Children and Oxfam’s newly released report – A Dangerous Delay – was on the front cover.

The report details the cost of late response to early warnings in the 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa. More than 30 million people are still affected by the crisis, and A Dangerous Delay outlines some of the steps that can be taken to avoid a similar situation happening again.

At the Save the Children headquarters, as I sat in reception waiting to be met, there was further coverage of the report on BBC News — it looked like it was going to be dominating the morning news, which was brilliant.

After everyone had arrived, there was a short breakfast meeting with some of the brilliant campaign staff, the other campaigners attending the hand-in (including Charlie Is So Cool Like, and his lovely vlogging Mum Lindsay), and Save the Children CEO Justin Forsyth who was just back in the office after an appearance on the Today Show.

We had a chat about the campaign, and posed for some photos with the GIANT petition, before hopping into a cab to Downing Street.

We had been due to do the hand-in at 1pm, but due to a visit from the Italian Prime Minister, we’d been bumped forward to 12pm.

The members of the Italian media gathered outside 10 Downing Street looked somewhat bemused by our group, walking up and down the street and posing for photos in our matching t-shirts! But they were full of questions about what we were doing, and it was great having the opportunity to talk about the 66 Cities campaign.

We had only planned on handing in a small version of the petition, but the policeman on the gate said we couldn’t take in the large version — which was supposed to just be a photo prop — unless it was handed in too.

So now lucky old David Cameron has a giant petition about ending extreme hunger sitting in his front hallway. (It really was big — I had to stand on tip-toes to see over the top!)

I’m hoping it acts as a constant reminder to him of the need for action.

We came out of the hand-in to two pieces of very exciting news.

The first was that Save the Children’s Twitter takeover had been a huge success. Hundreds of people had taken over the PMQs hashtag thread with messages about the Hunger Charter.

In terms of raising awareness and demonstrating the breadth and depth of support for action from the Government, that was absolutely fantastic.

Each month we recognise someone who has done something extra special to help support Save the Children. However there are some people whose efforts continue throughout the year so we thought now was the perfect time to tell you about some of them.

Our first award goes to a fundraiser who dedicates hours of his time each week to raising money on our behalf. I’m sure he will be a familiar face to many of our supporters because he has been playing his recorder on the streets of Reading for many years, raising more than £6,400 so far! His name is Mr Shipway and we want to say a huge thank you to him and all the people of Reading who donate to us through him each week.

Our second award goes to Josh Black and his family, who have done a huge amount of fundraising for Save the Children this year. It all began when Josh decided to do a sponsored ‘keepy-uppy’ at his local football club. He managed to do an amazing 1,015 keepy-uppies, raising £601. But this was just the start! The Black family continued to fundraise throughout 2011, involving friends, family, work and school, and managed to raise a fantastic £1,468.50.

Our final award is for someone who spent months training and fundraising before completing the London Marathon in April. She managed to run the whole distance, despite suffering from cramp at 13 miles, and managed to raise a brilliant £2,450! Her name is Marie and she’s a member of our Supporter Care team.

2011 was an excellent year for us and we hope it was for our supporters too. We’re really excited about what 2012 will bring.

Please get in touch if you’re planning a fundraising event or if you have any questions for us. We love speaking to our supporters – without you we wouldn’t be able to do the work we do.  Find out more

The Week follows the launch of our ‘No Child Left in the Cold’ campaign.

We are calling on energy companies and the government to do more to help families who can’t afford to heat their homes this winter.

Research shows that growing up in cold homes poses health risks to children from babies to teenagers. So we’re really pleased to see more efforts to help communities and families get the best deals and advice on fuel bills.

Sign our petition asking that no child is left in the cold.

Energy-saving advice

Big Energy Week is helping people save money on their bills in the following ways:

• Contact your suppliers to check you are on the best tariff and payment method.
• Visit an accredited switching website to see if you could get your energy cheaper elsewhere. You may be able to save up to £200 off your annual bill by shopping around for a different supplier, particularly if you have never changed energy firm.
• Insulate the walls and the loft of your home and you could save on average around £120 per year.  All suppliers are giving away free or discounted insulation – ask if you’re eligible so you don’t miss out.  That goes for heating oil customers too.
• Check you are not missing out on any benefits or tax credits that could increase your income; your local Citizens Advice Bureau can help you with this.
• Using less energy could save you money, just by doing simple things like turning off lights and switching appliances off at the wall instead of leaving them on standby.
• Turning your thermostat down 1°C alone could cut your heating bill by £60 on average.
• If you can’t pay your bills,  contact your energy supplier immediately: they have to help you manage your bills in a way that you can afford.
• If you use heating oil or liquid petroleum gas to heat your home, shop around and compare prices from different suppliers.  You could also save money by buying in bulk with your neighbours; check if there is an oil club you can join or start one up.

You can find some useful advice and pointers at www.bigenergyweek.org.uk

Save the Children is calling on the energy companies and government to do their bit for children in fuel poverty. Please  sign our petition

With fuel bills seemingly going up and up, the more vulnerable people in the UK will be facing a serious struggle to keep warm and well.

And it’s not just your elderly neighbours you should be looking out for.

No child should be left in the cold by poverty

Hundreds of thousands of children could have their health put at risk this winter because so many young families in the UK are struggling to pay for basics like heating.

That’s why we’re asking the big fuel companies to put some money aside and do more to help the poorest children in the UK.

Sign our petition now and add your voice to our calls.

Hot (or at least warm) tips

• Checking you’re getting the best deal on fuel bills isn’t always about switching providers. Before you switch, you could try ringing your provider first and checking you’re getting their best tariff.
• Energy UK has lots of advice on their site on getting help with insulation and making savings. Plus they have numbers for the big providers.
• If you have friends, family and neighbours who are worried about their bills but don’t have the internet at home, let them know they can ring the freephone energy helpline on 0800 074 0745.
• Find out if you’re eligible for extra support if you’re on a low income. You can do this by calling the free independent advice serivce Consumer Direct 08454 04 05 06.

Now traditionally, this involves anxious queues at shopping emporiums around the country, buying endless and not so useful stocking fillers for you and yours.

But stop! Before you pick up yet another ceramic cat for your auntie Noreen, consider our fab line-up of Christmas buys that will not only put a smile on your family’s faces but will also make a a lasting difference to children’s lives.

Erin O'Connor models bag by Christopher Kane for Bag to Save a Life auction

Bag to save a life

Ladies! It’s not often that you buy a bag and save a life in one fell swoop.

We suggest that you take advantage of this opportunity by bidding on one of our fabulous designer, celebrity or luxury brand bags on eBay.

The money raised will fund more health workers providing the training and equipment they need to treat sick children in the world’s poorest countries.

IKEA soft toys

Everyone loves a soft toy, and the super-cuddly range from IKEA will not just give you a warm hug. It also comes with the guaranteed glow of knowing that 1Euro from every toy sold will fund our education programmes around the world.  Prices range from 99p to £14.99.

Born to Cuddle bear

If you can’t get enough of that lovely cuddly stuff, treat you loved ones to the special limited edition Born to Cuddle bear from Mothercare this Christmas. This plush teddy makes the ideal gift for babies. Cuddle bear costs £15.99 and £5 from every purchase is donated to us.

Hairy Yak from our Wishlist range of virtual gifts

Hairy Yak and other Wishlist gifts

What do you buy that person in your life that has everything? Why, a Hairy Yak of course!

The hairy yak is an amazing gift because it does so much to help poor families in remote mountain regions. It provides nutritious milk and butter, gives wool to knit warm clothes, pulls a plough and provides transport.

It truly is the gift that keeps on giving. It is just one of our range of really amazing Wishlist gifts.

Born to Cook Angel Food

Got a budding baker or a master chef on your list? Then we have the perfect gift. Born to Cook Angel Food is a delicious new cook book written by the legendary Michelin-starred chef Joyce Molyneux and her protégé Gerard Baker. It’s packed with 160 mouthwatering recipes and only costs £14.99.

John Lewis Reworked album

The John Lewis Christmas adverts are becoming a bit of an annual institution. If you often find yourself singing along to your favourite John Lewis ad, then why not buy the whole album of the best songs from the adverts. Reworked is available in-store at John Lewis and online from itunes and costs £7.99. We get £2 for every one sold.

Charlie is Born to be a nerd

Born To customised t-shirt

Our ever-popular Born To t-shirts let you tell the world exactly what you think you were born to do. Everybody’s wearing them, including all the cool internet kids like Charlie (pictured) of the uber-popular Youtube channel Charlieissocoollike. Make like Charlie and declare your nerd-dom to the world. T-shirts cost £15.99.

Our Lives – An intimate portrait of poverty in the UK

You may remember our unique and powerful exhibition of the lives of UK children living in poverty – Our Lives.  Award winning photographers – Simon Roberts, Liz Hingley, Laura Pannack, Abbie Trayler-Smith/Panos and Carol Allen Storey took a series of photographs that provided an intimate and compelling portrayal of the shocking 3.5 million UK children growing up in poverty. The book is on sale now, and is a stunning addition to your book case or coffee table. It costs £16.95.

Give us a click, win us £2

We know, we know… There’s a recession, you’re strapped for cash. We have the solution and it won’t cost you a penny. The Halifax are donating money for everyone who takes part in their online choir, and here’s the even better thing:  just click on the button and they’ll give us £2. If you actually use the app to record yourself singing, they’ll give us a further £3. It is that easy and only takes a minute.

Christmas cards

What’s Christmas without a lovely card to go with your presents? We have loads to suit any mood and price range. Take a peek and let your card do the talking.

This is fantastic news for us because 10 per cent of every sale goes towards our life-saving work around the world.

The app features 230 poems, some of which are read by British film legends Helena Bonham Carter and Bill Nighy.

An epic success

The app was downloaded a whopping 2,000 times on the first day, making it the third best-selling app on the iPad chart, beating Angry Birds in popularity.

“This App is a brilliant way for families to share classic poetry in a modern format and Save the Children is proud and delighted to be its charity partner,” said Justin Forsyth, CEO of Save the Children.

Waxing lyrical

Everyone from parents and poets, to press and politicians have been inspired by the new poetry sensation.

Author of Purple Ronnie and Edward Monkton, Giles Andreae, said: “It’s absolutely brilliant! Wonderful choices, beautifully read, intelligently laid out, gloriously designed – and fun to play with and search through.”

Education secretary, Michael Gove, has also downloaded the app.

The power of words

Not only is the app a creative and fun way for children to enjoy poetry, but it’s helping some of the world’s poorest children to grow and learn too.

On the first day of the app’s release, it raised enough funds to buy educational books and toys for almost 100 children living in poverty in the UK.

Just ten downloads of the iPad app can buy a mosquito net to protect a child from malaria, or buy a blanket for a newborn baby living in poverty in the UK.

And no amount of words could argue with that.

Download it now:

• Get iF Poems for the iPad
• Get iF Poems for the iPhone

That’s because for every album sold we’ll get a £2 donation to support our work with some of the poorest children in the UK.

Reworked, which costs £7.99 includes Ellie Golding’s rendition of Elton John’s Your Song and Taken by the Tree’s version of Gun & Roses’ Sweet Child of Mine among many other classic hits covered by some of today’s most exciting musicians.

The album is available to buy now from:

• www.johnlewis.com/album
• iTunes
• John Lewis and Waitrose stores nationwide.

The donations we receive from Reworked’s sales will go towards expanding our work across the UK to give hundreds of thousands of children a better chance in life.

Right here in Britain today, children are going without warm, clean, clothes or enough food on the table. Some have to sleep on a concrete floor because they don’t have a bed.

Reworked includes the hit song from the current John Lewis Christmas advert – a cover of The Smiths’ Please, Please, Please Let me Get What I Want sung by Slow Moving Millie.

Slow Moving Millie said: “John Lewis is such a British institution and not only do I feel honoured to be included on the Reworked album, I’m delighted to be helping a brilliant cause like Save the Children.”

The emotive reworking of the Billy Joel classic Always A Woman by Fyfe Dangerfield of the Guillemots also appears in the album.

Tracks from a more recent ad which featured scenes set in different decades accompanied by iconic songs, are also reworked for the album with The Feeling covering the Elton John classic Rocket Man, Amy Macdonald revisiting the Dusty Springfield classic I Only Want to Be With You and Dionne Bromfield re-recording Sade’s Smooth Operator.

Born to Sing

Reworked is one of the projects that is supporting our Born to Sing campaign. Born to Sing launched earlier this year at the X Factor tour, where we were able to reach almost half a million music fans with the message about Save the Children’s vital work.

Next year and beyond, we will use Born to Sing to create a variety of projects including everything from live music events, fundraising singles and albums, online and social media campaigns to jazz and choral concerts, karaoke nights and schools projects.

We are thrilled by the support that all the great artists on Reworked are already showing us and look forward to having the support of many more great names from the UK music industry joining with us to use their voices to help give a child a chance for a better future.

Great cause

John Lewis marketing director Craig Inglis said: “Over the last four years, we have become known for our innovative use of music within our TV advertising. This exciting new album reflects that success whilst also generating funds for a fantastic cause.”

Our corporate partnerships director Douglas Rouse said: “We are delighted that John Lewis and Universal are donating £2 from the proceeds of the Reworked album to Save the Children.

This is great music for a great cause. Everyone who buys this fantastic album is directly helping some of the poorest children in the UK to fulfil their potential.”

The main focus of the conference was our #66cities campaign and many of the campaigners there signed up to become one of our #66cities champions, deciding to put the knowledge and skills they’d gained from the sessions into direct action.

What is the #66cities campaign?

Our #66cities campaign aims to use the power of social media to help Save the Children in our work to end extreme hunger.

We’ve developed the Charter to End Extreme Hunger, along with 26 other charities, to try and prevent a food crisis like the one we’ve seen in East Africa this year from happening again.

The campaigners who signed up today to become a #66cities champion for their local city will be helping us to lobby the government to help end hunger in the world and will be using social media to mobilise the campaign in their local area.

What can I do to help?

At today’s blogging session people were keen to learn about how social media could help them campaign. And to us, it’s simple – we need you to spread the word amongst your social networks and get people to sign our petition urging Prime Minister David Cameron to sign our government up to the Charter.

Here’s three simple actions you can do:

If you’ve got one minute: tweet or use your facebook status to share the Charter to End Extreme Hunger with your friends. Use the hashtag #66cities and this link to our petition bit.ly/savehungerwb

If you’ve got two minutes: sign our petition asking David Cameron to sign the Charter now.

If you’ve got five minutes: Write a blog post about our campaign to End Extreme Hunger and tag your blogging friends. If you’re not a blogger why not write a mini-blog using a facebook note and tag your friends in that.

If you have any questions or want some photos or more information for your blog or twitter you can drop me a line: r.childs@savethechildren.org.uk

You can also follow me on twitter @savechildrenpr and also our main supporter feed @savechildrenuk.

And, if you want to help lead the campaign in your local area you can also still sign up to be a #66cities champion.

What’s next?

At the end of our campaigns conference today I watched as our #66cities champions headed out into the cold again for a group photo, each of them now wearing a t-shirt (thankfully most of them managed to put these over their jumpers!) emblazoned with the name of their city.

That photo may have marked the end of the campaigners conference but the #66cities campaign is only just beginning. The campaign is now in their hands, and yours too.

If you search for #66cities on twitter you’ll find some brilliant campaigning tweets and blog posts already and we need your help to add to those voices. Your voice can join ours in calling for an end to extreme hunger.

Players and staff will be donating a day’s wages and fans will also be encouraged to give what they can to support our education work in the UK and overseas.

To celebrate the announcement, Arsenal first-team players Andre Santos and Johan Djourou visited the club’s Emirates Stadium earlier this week to take part in a special Families and Schools Together (FAST) session run by the charity. 

Arsenal first-team players Andre Santos and Johan Djourou with children from a FAST programme

A number of fundraising initiatives will be taking place in and around Emirates Stadium in north London on Saturday too.

The Armoury and The Arsenal at Highbury House stores will be selling exclusive co-branded sportsbands, with at least £2 from each sale being donated directly to Save the Children.

50p from the sale of each matchday programme will also be donated to the partnership.

Bringing out the best

Thomas Vermaelen wearing the co-branded sportsbands

A special matchday raffle will also take place with prizes ranging from a signed Arsenal shirt and a personalised stone in the new North Bank Terrace at Emirates Stadium to a pair of tickets to see Coldplay live in concert at Arsenal’s home in June 2012.

Arsenal Football Club CEO, Ivan Gazidis said: “Arsenal has a tradition on and off the pitch of bringing the best out of young people and our partnership with Save the Children is built on the shared belief that every child deserves a basic education and the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

“I hope all supporters will take the opportunity to rally behind the dedicated matchday this Saturday and help to make the day a huge success.”

To contribute to Arsenal’s fundraising efforts for Save the Children visit: www.justgiving.com/beagoonerbeagiver

Our Young Ambassadors programme enables young people to come together from across the country to organise End Child Poverty Summit events with a direct call to action for an audience of supporters, councillors and parliamentarians.

The programme will also see a nationwide campaign call which will be planned and delivered by young people in 2012.

Lobbying for change

Our vision is for young people to influence policy and decisions at local and national levels. We’re hoping the ambassadors will be responsible for changes that make life better for thousands of children and young people living in poverty across Britain.

None of this would be possible without the support of two of our corporate partners, British Gas and FirstGroup.

Funding

British Gas has provided vital funding, as well as fantastic volunteer support for grassroots change project groups, ambassador summits, an ambassador residential and the national campaign next year.

FirstGroup has also provided crucial funding and support across a range of UK programme initiatives including ambassador summits and an ambassador residential. as well as supporting Families and Schools Together (FAST) groups in Manchester and Glasgow which help to build communities between parents, schools and children.

Inspiring

Staff and executives from both companies had the chance to meet and discuss issues with the ambassadors and one word always cropped up in their feedback was “inspiring”.

Christine Tate, head of corporate responsibility at British Gas, said: “We’re very proud to be supporting these summits and Save the Children’s work in the UK.

“These young people are so inspirational and have already influenced changes to make a positive difference in many children’s lives. We all have a role to support our communities and make them better places for our youngsters.”

Enthusiasm

Avril Gill, FirstGroup’s marketing manager for group brand, added: “Not only was it good fun, I was also surprised just how strong the opinions of these young people were.  

“Save the Children fostered a trusting and positive environment which bred confidence, and created exactly the right platform for the young people to share opinions and experience.

And they are a truly inspiring group of young people, as demonstrated by the recent End Child Poverty Summits they designed, planned and delivered.

Supported summits

During these summits the ambassadors spoke in front of senior decision makers and told them what they want to change and why.

The Wales Summit in Cardiff, which was funded by FirstGroup was co-chaired with former First Minister Rhodri Morgan and had a focus on health, food poverty and maximising income.

The North of England Summit, funded by British Gas, involved an audience of local MPs and councillors and addressed the need for cheaper school uniforms for poorer families and better access to youth services.

And at the Scotland Summit, funded by Scottish Gas, the ambassadors’ creative “Get In” campaign which aims to improve access to leisure activities for youngsters living in poverty was presented to MSPs and councillors.

 Find out more about this year’s summits, and the young ambassador’s campaign to improve the lives of young people’s lives in the UK in a forthcoming blog post soon.