Member Article

Film Fun Run is a box office hit as 700 school pupils raise funds for charity

700 pupils from schools on Tyneside are channelling famous names from the silver screen to raise money for charity. Youngsters from Newcastle High School for Girls and Fellside Primary School in Whickham are taking part in fundraising ‘Film Fun Run’ events dressed as their favourite film characters. The runs have been organised by international children’s charity COCO (Comrades of Children Overseas) and sponsored by the Newcastle office of global law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, as part of the build up to the first ever Newcastle International Film Festival (NIFF).

On Friday 23 March, hundreds of pupils from the junior school at Newcastle High School for Girls tackled a 2km run in costume, with each girl raising money for Newcastle-based COCO, which carries out vital work in East Africa to help improve the quality of education for children living in poor and marginalised communities. Pupils from Fellside Primary School in Whickham will also don costumes and complete their own Film Fun Run in the near future. The runs are taking place just a few days before the opening of the first Newcastle International Film Festival, which will run from 29 March – 1 April.

Lucy Kendall, CEO of COCO, said: “We are thrilled to be the international charity partner for the first ever Newcastle International Film Festival and we thought that the Film Fun Run would be a great way to celebrate that and raise some money too. We’re really grateful to Womble Bond Dickinson for sponsoring both runs and to the children for taking part in such big numbers and with so much enthusiasm! We’re now looking forward to the start of the film festival and hope that the inaugural event is a huge success.”

Angela Charlton, head of junior school at Newcastle High School for Girls, adds: “Newcastle High School for Girls is absolutely delighted to host the inaugural Film Fun Run in support of COCO and the incredible work it does to support children’s education in Africa. Our girls benefit from such fantastic facilities and opportunities here at NHSG – this event raises their awareness that children around the world need their support as the future generation, to make change happen.”

Asmah Baig, CSR manager and solicitor at Womble Bond Dickinson, comments: “We are delighted to be sponsoring the Film Fun Run. It is a great and inclusive event which is raising awareness of the of work of COCO, and dovetails with our own CSR programme in relation to social inclusion via education.”

Helen Cadzow, of the NIFF advisory board, adds: “The Newcastle International Film Festival team is dedicated to inspiring students from the North East to get involved in film, media and associated industries. For our inaugural year, we are delighted that Newcastle High School for Girls is celebrating the power of inspirational women in this way and sending that positive message around the globe by raising money to support the work that COCO does with schools in Africa.”

The Newcastle International Film Festival is a four-day celebration of film running from 29 March until 1 April. It will be held in venues across Newcastle, which will showcase films from around the globe, including several world premieres, many classics, and new films from all genres of movies.

COCO was co-founded by Steve Cram CBE and British Army Major Jim Panton in 2000. It works with communities in remote regions of the developing world on projects to provide children with access to the education that is essential for a good start in life. Since its inception, the charity has raised over £4 million to fund small, sustainable, community led initiatives. COCO and its partners have now undertaken 56 transformational projects in 16 countries, positively impacting the lives of over 200,000 people.

To find out more about the work of COCO visit www.coco.org.uk, find the charity on Facebook or follow @COCO_Charity on Twitter. For more information about the Newcastle International Film Festival and to buy tickets visit www.newcastlefestival.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chris Lines .