11-year-old girl from Barnsley wins holiday on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway for Charity fundraising
Hollie was invited to the show thanks to her incredible gift appeal in support of The Children’s Hospital Charity.
On Saturday 24th February 11-year-old Hollie Kyle from Barnsley won a family holiday on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. Hollie was invited to the show thanks to her incredible gift appeal in support of The Children’s Hospital Charity.
Hollie has received care at Sheffield Children’s since she was eight and a half years old when she was diagnosed with the rare condition of Juvenile Arthritis.
Mum, Laura Kyle, said: “The service and treatment we have received at Sheffield has been amazing. We have spent so much time there over the last couple of years we felt we wanted to give something back.”
Hollie then came up with the idea of giving Christmas gifts to patients at the Sheffield Children’s, and with the support of her parents, they launched Hollie’s Gift Appeal.
Hollie’s community rallied around the campaign, and by the time she was ready to donate the presents, her home looked like a toy store.
Thanks to the support of friends, family, Hollie’s school, and local businesses, Hollie donated over 300 presents to Sheffield Children’s in December 2023.
Jane Darby, Charity Fundraising Hub Officer said: “The support of incredible people like Hollie helps to make Christmas feel a little bit more normal for children staying with the hospital during the festive season. Hollie is amazing and we’re so grateful for her support.”
To help encourage donations, Hollie’s mum, Laura, posted about the appeal on social media. Then a few months after the appeal had finished, Laura received a message from the team at Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
Laura said: “We couldn’t believe it! When we started the Appeal, we just thought it was our little way of giving something back for the amazing treatment Hollie has had at Sheffield Children’s.”
“We feel really lucky that Hollie’s condition is manageable and she’s okay so we wanted to do something nice for the children who would be staying over Christmas. We didn’t do this to get anything back, so we were so surprised to receive the invitation to Saturday Night Takeaway.”
This Saturday marked the launch of the 20th season of Saturday Night Takeaway, and to celebrate the audience was filled with people who had done something amazing in their community or had fundraised for charity.
During the show’s ‘happiest minute’ where they give back to people who have done amazing things, Ant and Dec marked their 20th anniversary by giving every member of the audience a ‘Takeaway Getaway’. Courtesy of Tui, Hollie and her family have won a seven-night, all-inclusive holiday or cruise of their choice.
Hollie had an amazing time, and the family are so excited to go on their holiday.
Laura said: “We’re so proud of Hollie and this holiday is such a special way to celebrate everything she’s done. We will definitely be running our appeal again this year and we are so grateful to Sheffield Children’s for everything they have done for us.”
To do your own amazing fundraising like Hollie, visit the Charity website: https://www.tchc.org.uk/get-involved/fundraise/