Children in Need kicked off today around Wiltshire, with people coming up with fun and interesting ways to raise money.

Schools in Devizes invited their pupils to dress down to their pyjamas for the day, with the donation of £1, as well as offering cake stalls which were selling selections of homemade treats. Nursteed Primary School in Devizes has spent the past two days raising money, with their pyjama day yesterday (Thursday 12) and a penny hunt today.

Wansdyke School arranged their cake sale on the schools of the grounds. Helen Sullivan, administration officer at Wansdyke, said: “We had loads and loads of cakes for sale, the children were really good and lined up to wait for their turn to get a cake. They didn’t have a non-uniform day but they had the Children in Need transfers (stick on tattoos) on their faces.”

Wansdyke School raised the total of £153.83 throughout the school day with still more to come after the remainder of the cakes go on sale to parents after school hours.

The total amount for the other schools is still being calculated.

Some people had different ways in mind of how to raise the money for the annual appeal, with Mrs Tracey Cannon sitting in a delivery cage outside the Co- Op in Market Lavington. Mrs Cannon is spending 12 hours, from 7am-7pm, dressed at the mascot of Children in Need, Pudsey, sitting in a cage outside the local supermarket branch.

Elsewhere, the 2nd Chippenham East Rainbows and 2nd Pewsham Brownies had their 30 minutes of fame last night when they appeared on Blue Peter to help decorate spots for the Blue Peter World record breaking Longest Super Hero cape.

Guiding groups across the UK were given the chance to take part, with two of them being in Chippenham. The spots were sewn onto the cape by the WI and it appeared on Blue Peter breaking the world record at just under 45 metres long.

24-7 Staffing in Chippenham also got into the fundraising spirit by holding a coffee and cake day at their building in Timber Street today.

Director of 24-7, Melody Thompson of Chippenham, said: “I am really pleased, we had a good selection of clients, neighbours and members of the public stop by. The is the first time we have done something like this for Children in Need, but it was a way of bringing the staff together and raising money for the cause.

“We had a great cake that sold before 9am which was a castle cake, I didn’t even get the chance to see it. We will definitely do something next year, it has been really successful.”

The total amount for 24-7 has not yet been calculated.

Sixth form students at Sheldon School in Chippenham took part in a servant auction where students were being auctioned off to fellow students or teachers to act as servants for the day.

The students also had a fancy dress day with the theme being Icons, famous people from pop culture or otherwise, with people dressing up as the Spice Girls, the Royal Family and many other public figures.

Corsham celebrated Children in Need with several schools pitching in to raise money for the BBC telethon.

St Patrick’s Catholic Primary, Lacock Road, will be dressing up as super heroes with each child paying a donation of 50 pence. Corsham Regis Primary Academy put on a Pudsey themed cake sale at the end of the school day. Around 12 children and their parents took part in the event in an attempt to beat last year’s £280 total.

The four children of Lypiatt Primary School, a transit school for military service families, managed to raise £26 by selling chicken eggs and cakes to the public and dressing in mufty.

Deborah Morgan, the school business manager at Lypiatt Primary, said: “Very proud, they were not happy it was raining. They are very tiny. They did look very cute in their high viz vests.”

There was a mufty day and cake sale at Box Church of England Primary School and the pupils at Neston Primary School paid £1 each to dress in mufty and played the guess how many sweets there are in the jar game for 10 pence. The schools in Corsham are currently still collecting and counting the donations they were given over the course of the day.