CELEBRITIES are backing an anti-loneliness campaign from Flamingo Chicks, the dance organisation for sick and disabled children.
They are joining in It Takes Two to Tutu, in which they design tutus that are made up, one to fit the adult and one the child.
Among those taking part are Lorraine Kelly, Evie Pickerill and Andy Day from Cbeebies, Gladiator Fury (aka Jodie Ounsley), Angela Rippon, Amy Dowden, Briony May Williams, Michael Gunning, Lost Voice Guy, Carrie & David Grant, Jayne Middlemiss, Gail Porter, Olive Grey and Marcus Ramtohul.
The charity has launched the campaign after a survey to mark its tenth birthday revealed that many of Britain’s 1.8 million disabled children are lonely.
The poll, to mark the organisation’s 10th anniversary, indicates that 45% of disabled children feel lonely regularly and of those children, 15% feel lonely every single day. That means 270,000 disabled young people in the UK feel alone 365 days a year.
The tutus are the most beautiful creations, bursting with colour and contrast! Briony’s tutu for example features an array of cooking utensils offset with neon animal print. Amy Dowden’s tutu is made of shimmery pink sequins and features Welsh Dragons, daffodils and is edged with Breast Cancer ribbons. Fury’s tutu features her signature blue braids, cochlear implants and is emblazoned with bright Gladiator hues of red and blue.
The tutus are now on sale at flamingochicks.org/tutus
Flamingo Chicks founder Katie Sparkes said: We’re hugely grateful to all our celebrities for taking part and helping us highlight this important issue.”
Flamingo Chicks, which campaigns to break down barriers to inclusion, wants more awareness of the loneliness felt by disabled children and their families.
The charity is also working to expand its dance class provision. Last year 11,589 disabled children and friends went through Flamingo Chicks’ classes across the UK.