Blue
Peter launches Water Works Appeal
Blue
Peter continues its tradition of helping others around the world
as it launches Water Works, the 41st annual appeal, working with
charity WaterAid.
Over
the coming months Blue Peter viewers will be raising money through
Bring and Buy sales up and down the country to help thousands of
children in Tanzania and Uganda gain access to life-saving, clean
drinking water.
Over a billion people in the world today have no access to clean
water, often having to walk miles and queue for hours to get to
the nearest supply point.
The
Blue Peter Water Works Appeal - launched on the programme yesterday
(Monday 25 November) - will encourage children around the UK to
hold bring and buy sales to raise money.
The
initial target is set at 拢500,000 which would help 30,000
people to get safe water for life.
Blue Peter presenter Matt Baker recently visited Tanzania to see
at first hand how viewers can help.
"I
saw women and children having to dig deep holes in the ground, often
over eight metres, and climb down into them to find water,"
he said.
"They
would have to walk and queue for hours to get the water, then when
they did, the quality of this water was disgusting and I had to
watch them drink it.
"I
then saw a village with a pump and engine meaning that people could
collect clean water from taps. The difference it made to these people's
lives was incredible.
"Children
were clean and healthy and there was a light in their eyes you didn't
see in the people without a clean water source."
Blue
Peter Editor Steve Hocking said: "Over the past 41 years Blue
Peter viewers have helped countless people all over the world.
"To
us in the UK clean water is something that we may take for granted,
but to so many it's a luxury.
"With
this year's appeal we're working to help improve the quality of
life of people in Tanzania and Uganda. It's a big challenge, but
we know the Blue Peter viewers are up to it!"
On Monday 2 December the Blue Peter studio will be getting this
year's appeal off to a flying start by hosting a live Bring &
Buy sale, with celebrities and C大象传媒 bringing along their wares to
help raise money for Water Works, as well as giving advice to viewers
on how to set up and run local bring and buy sales.
Throughout
December, Blue Peter will be giving details on how to apply for
a pack on air and through its .
The
Blue Peter Annual Appeal has raised millions of pounds in the last
38 years, including over 拢25 million in the past 15 years
through recycling schemes alone.
In
2000, viewers raised over one million pounds in the Blue Peter Wheel
Appeal to help provide mobility for older people in the UK.
Notes
to Editors
Past
Blue Peter Appeals
Raising
money for good causes at home and abroad has always been at the
heart of Blue Peter.
Over
the last 40 years viewers action and generosity have helped...
famine
victims in Ethiopia, provided rescue lifeboats, built farming schools
in Uganda, provided guide dogs for the blind, accommodation for
homeless children in Lebanon, mobility for deaf children to travel
to school, food aid to Cambodia, medical equipment for children
and babies with kidney failure, treat eye disease in Africa, provided
ponies for disabled children, equipment for Special Care Baby Units,
built schools in Mozambique, and bought oxygen kits for children
with cystic fibrosis.
Over
the years Blue Peter viewers young and old have collected...
milk
bottles tops, aluminium foil, used stamps, old coins, buttons, badges,
belt buckles, postcards, old keys, scrap metal, t-shirts, wool,
aluminium cans, old jewellery, waste paper, and organised thousands
of bring and buy sales.
The
first ever Blue Peter Appeal took place back in 1962 when the programme
asked viewers to donate unwanted toys for children who would otherwise
have no Christmas presents.
Each
year the Appeal alternates between good causes at home and abroad.
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