About the Ö÷²„“óŠć Feed This blogĀ explains what the Ö÷²„“óŠć does and how it works. We link to some other blogs and online spaces inside and outside the corporation.Ā The blog is edited by Alastair Smith and Matt Seel. 2016-03-02T13:15:00+00:00 Zend_Feed_Writer /blogs/aboutthebbc <![CDATA[Sport Relief - Battle of the Five-a-Sides]]> 2016-03-02T13:15:00+00:00 2016-03-02T13:15:00+00:00 /blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/cba61107-6bcd-4232-b4cd-0600d7967623 Mark Helsby <div class="component prose"> <p>At 9.15am on Thursday morning (tomorrow) we kick off a five-a-side match which will finish at 6.15pm on Saturday evening in aid of <a href="http://www.sportrelief.com/">Sport Relief</a>. Itā€™s 57 hours of football in total which is the equivalent of a 38-game Premier League season played back to back. Thatā€™s one continuous game for 57 hours on a specially constructed pitch with seating and lights and all that, on the piazza outside MediaCityUK in Salford.</p> <p>We are going to have teams rolling on and off every half an hour, but the matches are going to be played constantly for the 57 hours, playing through the night then through the day and back through the night again.</p> <p>Working on this project for Sport Relief is very different from my day job which is producing <em>Mastermind</em>. We have 96 people take part on <em>Mastermind</em> over a year, which feels like a lot, but this is over 1800 players in total over the 57 hours. So itā€™s five-a-side and three subs per team every half an hour and just finding those players has been a huge task over the last five or six weeks. That was when I came on board. At that point the pitch was all sorted, it was going to be filmed, that was all sorted, but the nuts and bolts of who was going to play and how it was going to work is the thing that Iā€™ve been doing with the team for the last few weeks.</p> <p>Weā€™ve got a real mixture of people taking partā€“ thereā€™ll be some celebrities playing, thereā€™ll be some familiar Ö÷²„“óŠć faces and some familiar Ö÷²„“óŠć voices - whose faces people maybe donā€™t know but they definitely know their voices - playing. There are also local community groups who are supported by Sport Relief and the Premier League, and also lots of teams who have come via Manchester countyā€™s FA whoā€™ve been very helpful, as well as some internal Ö÷²„“óŠć teams, and lots of members of the public. I think about 24 hours out of 57 were put open for members of the public to sign up and play and weā€™ve had hundreds and hundreds of people who wanted to get involved.</p> <p>As for the games themselves, theyā€™re not competitive in the normal way, because itā€™s going to be more of a cumulative total by the end of the match ā€“ so it shouldnā€™t be 114 blood-and-guts half-hour death matches; hopefully itā€™ll be more fun for the people playing than that! Weā€™ve tried to make it as open ability and open age as possible so that anybody can play at any time. Where weā€™ve got school kids coming theyā€™re playing other school kids and weā€™ve roughly broken up the age groups 16-35 and 35 and over to try and make it fair, but totally mixed ability and mixed gender across the board.</p> <p>There are a lot of spreadsheets involved in organising an event like this - a chap on our team, Nick is coordinating all of it. Some people who have signed up as teams from the public which is brilliant because youā€™ve got the eight names there and away you go, the more complicated ones are where youā€™ve got eight individuals who we have to slot together and put into place. And some of the games are through the night and itā€™s quite a big ask to expect people to sign up for that.</p> <p>What was interesting is when we put some of the Ö÷²„“óŠć teams together: so Radio 5 live came along and said they wanted a team and they submitted who they were going to be, and we paired them up against <em>Question of Sport</em> and the 5 live team contained at least two ā€˜ringersā€™ ā€“ ex-professional players. This news then prompted the <em>Question of Sport</em> team to scrabble around frantically to try and find some ringers of their own to even it up! So some people want to do well in their little bit, which is fine, but ultimately itā€™s a cumulative total that we will have for the end of the show.</p> <p>Through the FA some of the teams that are coming along have got different abilities, and theyā€™ve been helping us to pair those teams up for us because we didnā€™t want it to just be all full ability teams playing ā€“ we are trying to make it as inclusive as possible. And it isnā€™t just a Manchester event either, people are coming from quite far afield, I know thereā€™s certainly one team thatā€™s been set up by Sport Relief that are coming down from Newcastle for it, some coming up from Stoke and places like that. The first game pairing involves a team that Sport Relief have set up and thatā€™s really important because thatā€™s the whole point of doing this, to raise money for Sport Relief so they in turn can continue supporting these organisations .</p> <p>From what I can gather from the people we have met with who run the MediaCityUK site, although it is licensed to have things through the night this is the first time itā€™s been done. So itā€™s a first for a lot of people all the way from me, Iā€™ve never put on an event before, certainly not an event thatā€™s 57 hours with 1800 people playing, all the way through to Salford City Council environmental health team who havenā€™t had an event here that runs for 24 hours. Thereā€™s so many bits to it ā€“ if it was just, ā€œletā€™s go and play five-a-side in a sports centreā€ it would be quite straight forward ā€“ even finding enough players for 57 hours would be quite straightforward, but we are outside, we are exposed to the elements. I was writing a risk assessment on Friday and started looking through some of the documentation that had been sent through talking about which wind speed we would have to come off at, you donā€™t have to worry about that on <em>Mastermind</em>.</p> <p>Iā€™ve been producing<em> Mastermind</em> for four seasons - this is my fifth season getting underway now, and I know that job quite well. But with this itā€™s completely different: the firefighting side of it is really fun ā€“ where someone comes up and says: ā€œThis is a problem ā€“ what are we going to do?ā€ And in the space of an hour youā€™ve got to come up with a solution because we havenā€™t got the time to spend days and days pondering. You just go with your gut instinct, and hope thatā€™s the right decision, and if it isnā€™t you look at it again and come up with another plan. There are going to be things that will happen that weā€™ve got no idea what they are yet, and no idea how weā€™ll cope with them. But those things we can predict weā€™ve done everything we can. When I was an Assistant Producer or a Researcher I liked to feel I had checked every last detail and that I was happy that everything had been as organised as well as it could be, so then if something did go wrong I could think: ā€œItā€™s alright I know everything else will run smoothly so Iā€™ll just concentrate on putting this rightā€¦ā€ I havenā€™t got that sense with this really ā€“ there are so many bits of it that could do wrong: thereā€™s snow forecast for Friday ā€“ that will throw a massive spanner in the works. At some point in the 57 hours we are going to have to make a decision Iā€™d imagine as to whether the pitch safe to play in the rain or the snow or whatever ā€“ wind restrictions we have to think about. People live around MediaCityUK ā€“ will be overlooking the pitch so we have to swap to a soft ball when it goes dark ā€“ you know there are all these different things that could crop up that we might have to think about and there is that slight trepidation that I donā€™t know what those things are.</p> <p>If you want to watch our progress itā€™s going to be on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/fiveaside%20">Ö÷²„“óŠć Radio 5 live Battle of the 5-A-Side</a>sĀ website throughout, from kick off to final whistle, itā€™ll be on the Red Button quite a lot, there are going to be regular updates on Ö÷²„“óŠć Radio 5 Live and lots of other programmes from around the site are going to be getting involved as well, whether itā€™s people going on <em>Radcliffe and Marconie</em> to talk about it, or <em>Blue Peter</em> coming out of their studio to be pitch-side. Ā <em>Newsround </em>and <em>Ö÷²„“óŠć Breakfast</em> who are also putting a team in but theyā€™re going toĀ  be doing reports from pitch side. In addition, 1Xtra have a team that leave their breakfast studio on the Thursday and then drive up to Manchester to play. All these different bits of coverage are going to be going on, so even if youā€™re not on the Red Button or watching online itā€™s going to be quite hard to avoidā€¦ hopefully itā€™ll be everywhere.Ā </p> <p><em>Mark Helsby, Producer, Ö÷²„“óŠć Radio 5 live, Battle of the Five-a-Sides for Sport Relief</em><br /><br /><em>Ö÷²„“óŠć Radio 5 liveā€™s Battle of the Five-a-Sides for Sport Relief takes place at MediaCity, Salford Thursday 3 March-Saturday 5th March. To donate to the Sport Relief challenge go toĀ <a href="https://email.myconnect.bbc.co.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=xWzfQE5Qrk2U4YxG3VDB3sHr0jn0R9MIYWmFW2S3DP3oGhcM_-GtdK0_riWyekpLTOSxXKL3hgU.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.sportrelief.com%2ffiveaside" target="_blank">www.sportrelief.com/fiveaside</a>.Ā </em><br /><br /><em>You can follow all of the action on the Ö÷²„“óŠć Radio 5 live websiteĀ <a href="https://email.myconnect.bbc.co.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=xWzfQE5Qrk2U4YxG3VDB3sHr0jn0R9MIYWmFW2S3DP3oGhcM_-GtdK0_riWyekpLTOSxXKL3hgU.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.bbc.co.uk%2ffiveaside" target="_blank">www.bbc.co.uk/fiveaside</a>Ā and on the Ö÷²„“óŠć Red Button. Follow all of the day's action on Twitter at #5liveAside.Ā </em></p> </div> <![CDATA[A game of two halves - a Sport Relief roundup]]> 2010-04-08T16:15:24+00:00 2010-04-08T16:15:24+00:00 /blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/5507d49b-52bd-3934-8022-181c3eaf8965 Diane Reid <div class="component"> <img class="image" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p025rpqc.jpg" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/80xn/p025rpqc.jpg 80w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/160xn/p025rpqc.jpg 160w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p025rpqc.jpg 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/480xn/p025rpqc.jpg 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640xn/p025rpqc.jpg 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/768xn/p025rpqc.jpg 768w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/896xn/p025rpqc.jpg 896w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1008xn/p025rpqc.jpg 1008w" sizes="(min-width: 63em) 613px, (min-width: 48.125em) 66.666666666667vw, 100vw" alt=""></div> <div class="component prose"> They did incredibly well! <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sportrelief/">This year's Sport Relief</a> raised over ƂĀ£30m for disadvantaged people in the UK and across the world - an astonishing 50% increase on last year's total of ƂĀ£20m. Audience numbers were up too, from 8 million to 9.4 million. <p>Comic Relief's <a href="http://www.rednoseday.com/">Red Nose Day</a> campaign grew out of a desire to harness the talents of entertainers, especially comics, to make a positive change to the lives of disadvantaged people. Many comics have a strong sense of justice: this motivates many who take part in charity fundraising.</p> <p>For Sport Relief, the association with sport means the potential for teamwork, challenge, international community, a sense of pushing yourself to the limit, which inspires people to step out of their comfort zone in aid of charity. </p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Izzard">Eddie Izzard</a>, an actor and comedian with no special athletic ability, ran a lonely, painful, awe-inspiring 43 marathons in 51 days. He raised over a million pounds for Sport Relief. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Corden">James Corden</a> took a considerable risk by performing an epic solo comedy sketch before thousands of sportsmen and women at the Sheffield Arena - a one take wonder with only a minute of recording time to spare. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8563750.stm">Christine Bleakley water-skied across the Channel</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/">Blue Peter</a> presenter <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8541832.stm">Helen Skelton kayaked 2010 miles down the River Amazon</a> for Sport Relief, breaking two world records in the process.</p> <p>I was one of many people massively moved by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chrismoyles/">Chris Moyles</a>' film from a malaria clinic in Uganda where tiny babies were being given emergency treatment. Chris allowed the audience to share his feelings in the bleakest of circumstances. This was very different from Chris' usual style on Radio 1's breakfast show. BT handled 386,978 calls to the donation line during the live TV show, peaking at 210 calls per second. </p> <p>But apart from the celebrities, there were the less famous contributors, who raised money or donated. There were runners in South Africa, in Manchester's Coronation Street set, around Television Centre and in local parks. There were films about inspirational local leaders in Africa and across the UK, and doctors and nurses working in daunting and difficult circumstances, all carrying out the work funded by Comic Relief.</p> <p>In a less spectacular way, the Ö÷²„“óŠć's other appeals continue throughout the year. Radio Merseyside has just launched an appeal for mobile clinics for the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. Ö÷²„“óŠć One's <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/charityappeals/programmes/lifeline/">Lifeline</a> is currently filming with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/presenters/sandi_toksvig.shtml">Sandy Toksvig</a> and a charity called <a href="http://www.fivetalents.org.uk/">Five Talents</a>, showing how it supports microfinance in Tanzania. You'll be able to see the programme on 23 May.</p> <p>[<em>This is my last blog as Ö÷²„“óŠć Charity Appeals Adviser, as I'm moving on to work as Chief Adviser for Ö÷²„“óŠć North.</em>]</p> </div> <![CDATA[Sport Relief Weekend 2010]]> 2010-03-18T16:25:09+00:00 2010-03-18T16:25:09+00:00 /blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/9c2bfcd7-77a2-3d89-8884-4b824eaf3b46 Peter Salmon <div class="component"> <div id="smp-0" class="smp"> <div class="smp__overlay"> <div class="smp__message js-loading-message delta"> <noscript>You must enable javascript to play content</noscript> </div> </div> </div></div><div class="component prose"> <br><!-- VIDEO END --><p>When I lace up my running shoes on Friday for <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sportrelief/">Sport Relief</a> I'll be mulling on how far we've come since we set up the charity ten years and ƂĀ£75 million ago. </p> <p><a href="http://www.sportrelief.com/the-mile">The Sport Relief Mile</a> is reputedly the biggest mass participation event in the world, and this weekend's television is one of the biggest of the year, with a galaxy of stars from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/db4624cf-0e44-481e-a9dc-2142b833ec2f">Robbie Williams</a> to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/team/richard_hammond.shtml">Richard Hammond</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wrvw">Claudia Winkleman</a> to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/2d499150-1c42-4ffb-a90c-1cc635519d33#p005rbn3">Cheryl Cole</a>.</p> <p>Celebrities have really risen to the challenge this year and the feats have been both serious and magnificent - from battling <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/backstage/profiles/christine_bleakley.shtml">Christine Bleakely</a> water-skiing the Channel, to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8256589.stm">Eddie Izzard's 43 astonishing marathons</a> and who could forget <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/">Blue Peter</a> super-girl <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/presenters-pets/helen/amazonmap.shtml">Helen Skelton kayaking down the River Amazon</a> alone. </p> <p>Back in 2000 I had just taken up the reins of Ö÷²„“óŠć Sport and together with <a href="http://www.comicrelief.com/">Comic Relief</a> CEO Kevin Cahill, we hatched a plot to use the inspirational power of sport for good - to change people's lives and also to help Ö÷²„“óŠć Sport get closer to their phenomenal audiences. </p> <p>The rest is fund-raising history. </p> <p>Since then I've been lucky enough to see the results throughout the UK as well as far and wide, on visits to hospitals and schools, orphanages and smallholdings in Ethiopia and Zambia, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/2010/01/sport-relief-2010.shtml">where I travelled this year</a> with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing/">Strictly's</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Healey">Austin Healey</a> and Something for the Weekend's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Lovejoy">Tim Lovejoy</a> among others. </p> <p>Now I can't wait for the shows and I'm anxious about living up to the steep targets we have set ourselves to raise money in the teeth of a terrible recession - just when vulnerable people need help most.</p> <p>This weekend there is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sportrelief/news/programmes.shtml">so much to choose from</a>, 'Smithy' of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007nf70">Gavin and Stacey</a> fame coaching the cream of British sport - have a sneak peak at him putting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Rooney">Wayne Rooney</a> and friends through their paces above - Dragon Den stars battling it out on Strictly Come Dancing, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Skinner">Frank Skinner</a> hosting a Question of Sport Relief, and the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/match_of_the_day/">Match of the Day</a> team putting their reputations on the line as they swap football shirts for aprons as they try there hand at Masterchef. </p> <p>There are specials of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fq31t">Outnumbered</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t6vf">Mock the Week</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/">the One Show</a>, as well as <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnw5">The Choir</a>'s Gareth Malone trying his best to train Olympic and Paralympic heroes to perform a song on the night. </p> <p>On Sunday at 16.05 on Ö÷²„“óŠć1 look out for the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p006lp5t">Sport Relief Mile show</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Holmes">Kelly Holmes</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shearer">Alan Shearer</a> launching the first ever international Sport Relief Mile in South Africa. Phew. </p> <p>What still astonishes me is the capacity of UK audiences, communities, schools and celebrities to keep on giving, supporting and caring. And the magic and alchemy of translating wonderful Ö÷²„“óŠć entertainment and documentary into money and help. </p> <p>All we need to figure out is what to do next - 2012, our most important year of sport yet is looming. </p> <p>Bring on <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/default.stm">The London Olympics</a>!<br></p> </div> <![CDATA[The Ö÷²„“óŠć's Charity Appeals - a Post-Haiti Earthquake Update]]> 2010-02-10T17:12:54+00:00 2010-02-10T17:12:54+00:00 /blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/c5afb84b-7ac4-3700-8c41-041a8f107018 Diane Reid <div class="component"> <img class="image" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p025n9wc.jpg" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/80xn/p025n9wc.jpg 80w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/160xn/p025n9wc.jpg 160w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p025n9wc.jpg 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/480xn/p025n9wc.jpg 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640xn/p025n9wc.jpg 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/768xn/p025n9wc.jpg 768w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/896xn/p025n9wc.jpg 896w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1008xn/p025n9wc.jpg 1008w" sizes="(min-width: 63em) 613px, (min-width: 48.125em) 66.666666666667vw, 100vw" alt=""></div> <div class="component prose"> <br><br><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/tiger.jpg">http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/tiger.jpg</a><br>On January 15th the Ö÷²„“óŠć broadcast over 70 appeals for Haiti on behalf of the <a href="http://www.dec.org.uk/">Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)</a>. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people across the world have raised money, and across the UK Ö÷²„“óŠć staff are no exception, raising money through collections, cake sales and local events. <p>The total raised by the DEC now stands at over ƂĀ£70m. This is far more than most emergency appeals. Typically, an emergency appeal will raise ƂĀ£10-20m; the most recent exception being the 2005 East Asia Earthquake Appeal, which received around ƂĀ£60m in donations. And, of course, the 2005 Tsunami Appeal raised an extraordinary ƂĀ£300m. Lessons learnt from post-Tsunami disaster relief are being applied to the way agencies are now working in Haiti. Their priorities are moving from immediate aid to reconstruction and recovery: money donated to the <a href="http://www.dec.org.uk/">DEC Haiti Appeal</a> will be spent over three years, a longer period than usual. </p> <p>But it's not just the DEC appeal which is current. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/2010/01/sport-relief-2010.shtml">Sport Relief </a>is in the run-up to an appeal on 19th March. And Blue Peter is looking for a charity partner for its <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/charityappeals/apply/blue_peter.shtml">2011/12 appeal</a>. </p> <p>The Ö÷²„“óŠć's newest appeal, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcwildlifefund/">Ö÷²„“óŠć Wildlife Fund</a>, is facing some interesting challenges. The programme supporting the appeal will go out on Ö÷²„“óŠć Two on Sunday June 20th. This is a very different slot from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/">Ö÷²„“óŠć Children in Need</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/rednoseday/">Comic Relief</a> - typically a Friday night on Ö÷²„“óŠć One, and a great deal of work is going into how to make the programme 'appeal' to a Ö÷²„“óŠć Two audience. There's also the small matter of a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/default.stm">World Cup</a> match between Brazil and Ivory Coast which takes place at the same time, potentially splitting a family audience. </p> <p>With four months to go, the production team is starting to shoot the films which will tell audiences how the ƂĀ£1.8m raised from the 2006 Ö÷²„“óŠć Wildlife Fund Appeal was spent. Charity staff are putting together off-air events and promotions. The Ö÷²„“óŠć's interactive technical team (ITACU) is looking at how the telephony and donation systems will work. There's new branding; fundraising packs are being assembled. The <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcwildlifefund/">Ö÷²„“óŠć Wildlife Fund</a> will benefit from the experience of the more established appeals, but crucially, in the run up to the appeal, it will need to find its own distinctive ways to move and involve the audience. </p> </div> <![CDATA[Sport Relief 2010]]> 2010-01-20T10:40:15+00:00 2010-01-20T10:40:15+00:00 /blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/b9e4d786-c264-3dda-84d2-3a87800e91e7 Peter Salmon <div class="component"> <img class="image" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p025vcnx.jpg" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/80xn/p025vcnx.jpg 80w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/160xn/p025vcnx.jpg 160w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p025vcnx.jpg 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/480xn/p025vcnx.jpg 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640xn/p025vcnx.jpg 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/768xn/p025vcnx.jpg 768w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/896xn/p025vcnx.jpg 896w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1008xn/p025vcnx.jpg 1008w" sizes="(min-width: 63em) 613px, (min-width: 48.125em) 66.666666666667vw, 100vw" alt=""></div> <div class="component prose"> <br><br><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/sport.jpg">http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/sport.jpg</a><br><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/8468839.stm">The shocking images that we continue to see from Haiti</a> are a stark reminder of just how quickly tragedy can strike, and in equal measure how compassionate we can be as a nation in response to it. <p>Today sees the official launch of <a href="http://www.sportrelief.com/">Sport Relief 2010</a>, the fund raising collaboration between the Ö÷²„“óŠć and <a href="http://www.comicrelief.com/">Comic Relief</a>. On the weekend of the 19 - 21 March, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/">Dragons' Den</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/">Top Gear</a>, Strictly on Tour, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport">Ö÷²„“óŠć Sport</a>'s stars and hundreds of thousands of members of the public will 'rise to the challenge' for a weekend of fund-raising to help some of the neediest people, many of them in the UK and some, like those in Haiti, on the other side of the world. </p> <p>Recently I was lucky enough to join colleagues from both the Ö÷²„“óŠć and Comic relief, as well as Strictly and former England rugby star <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Healey">Austin Healey</a> and Something for The Weekend presenter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Lovejoy">Tim Lovejoy </a>on a visit to one of these places: Zambia. </p> <p>Although the name conjures up images of the epic Victoria Falls, romantic steam engines traversing the Benguela Railway and colourful postage stamps, since gaining independence in 1964, Zambia has witnessed the inevitable boom and bust of tying your prospects to just one crop - copper - and it is now struggling to feed its people. </p> <p>Zambia is one of more than 40 African countries where Comic Relief cash is at work and making some progress battling the worst of the continent's problems - shortage of food and water, poor infrastructure, corruption and chronic health issues including the devastation of HIV/ Aids. </p> <p>The huge challenge it faces is reflected in some devastating statistics - 15 percent of the population is suffering from Aids/ HIV, 64 percent of people live on less than one dollar a day and life-expectancy has fallen to just 42 years.</p> <p>But in a land where you could excuse people for feeling downtrodden the support from Comic Relief is bolstering the spirit and energy of small neighbourhood, self-help schemes that use local expertise to provide management, support and training to help young and old get on their feet and through the day. </p> <p>Two of these schemes - the Bwaafana Ö÷²„“óŠć Based care organisation which received nearly ƂĀ£300,000 from Comic Relief and the Lusaka-based <a href="http://www.wfc.org.zm/">Women For Change</a>, with a grant of ƂĀ£637,000 - epitomise this resilience. Inspirational leaders Harriet and Bridget manage teams which make a difference on a daily basis by building networks of helpers, nurses, teachers and farmers that tackle the challenges head on where people live - and die. </p> <p>Even our short time in Zambia made us appreciate how tough these projects have to work to stay afloat amid the challenges and prejudice of what one local school headmaster told us was the traditional mantra of "Educate The Boy and Marry The Girl". </p> <p>So many of the major inequalities in Zambia stem from a lack of knowledge about health, gender and education, so it was wonderful to visit Mabele School and see boys and girls in class together, getting a basic education in their tiny, hot classrooms. Although a beneficiary of Comic Relief funding, the headmaster has 250 children in six classes, all orphans, and is the sole teacher. Some children walk two hours each way to school without any breakfast in their stomachs - so you understand the scale of the problems he still faces.</p> <p>But the joy when Tim and Austin handed over a proper football for them to play with on the school's sandy and bumpy pitch showed the huge difference small gestures can make. The kids had real dreams and ambitions - to be teachers, a doctor, a pilot and a lawyer and it filled you with hope that these self-help projects will catch on and take off - an epidemic of goodness in a land where other epidemics have brought only misery and a rising death toll.</p> <p>We can do so much to help combat such misery and suffering at home and abroad. Since Comic Relief began in 1988 it has raised more than ƂĀ£500m through its Red Nose campaigning on Ö÷²„“óŠć Television. And now Sport Relief, a relative newcomer only born in 2002, is building yet more momentum, fusing the power of entertainment, sport and personal challenge to make a difference too. </p> <p>My abiding memory of that trip is of an abjectly poor family farm where a mother of seven with her goats and gaggle of hungry children lived, emaciated and exhausted. I remember how her scrawny baby boy reached into her blouse and pulled out a tiny empty breast. Nothing to eat, no meal in sight, not even there. We gave them bananas and the few bottles of water we had with us and as we left the baby boy was sucking hard on some fruit: perhaps enough goodness and nourishment to get through another week. For this family as well as for those in Haiti and across the globe, Sport Relief 2010 just can't come soon enough...</p> <p>Get involved in Sport Relief or donate at <a href="http://www.sportrelief.com/">www.sportrelief.com</a> </p> </div>