Children in Need 2023: Pudsey show to feature NI fundraising stories

Hugo Duncan and Brooke Scullion joined Pudsey on Wednesday at Mossgrove PS in Newtownabbey

Northern Ireland fundraising stories are to be told in a special BBC programme on Sunday as part of the 2023 Children in Need Appeal.

Holly Hamilton and Connor Phillips will present the programme which will also feature highlights from Friday's Great SPOTacular Appeal Show.

Filmed at Sensory Kids NI in Antrim, there will be reports from charities which benefit from the funding.

Some 120 grants were issued to projects last year, worth more than £6m.

The national 2022 total raised on Children in Need night was £35m, with the overall total coming in at £44m.

Fionnuala Walsh said 120 projects benefit from Children in Need funding in Northern Ireland

The head of Children in Need in Northern Ireland, Fionnuala Walsh, said the money raised "makes a real difference for young people at a local level" with numerous projects in Northern Ireland benefitting from funding.

"This year we know times are tough, it's really hard times for people, but the public have been so generous and the money that is raised now really does make a huge difference," she said.

"We put it into our grant making and we make sure that the money gets to the right children and young people."

Sunday's programme will feature Pudsey, BBC Radio Ulster presenter Hugo Duncan and singer Brooke Scullion, who have hit the road to meet fundraisers, organisations and schools.

Among them are Foyle Down Syndrome Trust, Mossgrove Primary School in Glengormley and Compass Advocacy Network in Ballymoney.

Elliott and Abbigail help fundraise with Marie from Helping Hands Belfast, an autism support charity

The special reports will focus on groups such as The Zachery Geddis 'Break the Silence' Trust, Youth Work Alliance and Place of Victory NI.

The programme will also feature a special BBC Children in Need choir performance from Antrim Castle Gardens, while some familiar BBC Radio Ulster personalities will test their driving skills in a challenge at Victoria Square in Belfast.

BBC Children in Need 2023 In Northern Ireland airs at 15:55 GMT on Sunday and will also be available on the BBC iPlayer.

The programme will be hosted by BBC Radio Ulster's Connor Phillips along with his wife Holly Hamilton.

Phillips said it gives Children in Need an opportunity to focus on Northern Ireland and on how money raised "touches every single community" in the region.

"We hear figures and think, 'that's a lot of money', but then you go into these places, genuinely you can see where every single penny is being spent," he told the station's Good Morning Ulster.

The live appeal show aired at 19:00 on Friday. Information about how to donate and get involved with the appeal can be found here.