Pretty in pink for the last time

Nov 19 2008 Staines News

A fundraiser has finally packed up his trunk after 18 years supporting the BBC's Children in Need. HANNAH WEBSTER meets the man in the outfit

A fundraiser for Children in Need has packed away his pink elephant suit for the last time, as he retires from his 18-year stint of entertaining for the cause.

Phil Raymond, 58, has been dressing up as the brightlycoloured animal and standing outside Tesco in Staines Road West, Sunbury, since 1990 to collect money and raise awareness of the charity.

On Friday he even attended the Children in Need show at the BBC Television Centre in his outfit.

Mr Raymond said he would continue fundraising for Children in Need and other charities he helps, including Cancer UK.

However, he added that he was 'getting too old' to be dressing up as a pink elephant.

He said: "I have never taken my elephant head off during the BBC show before, because if you take the head off, you are just a person again and the fun disappears.

"As I was leaving the studio a camera crew came after me and said they had a photo of me as a pink elephant in 1992.

"They said they wanted me to take my head off and say 'I am the elephant Pudsey' and walk away, for a clip for the show. So I did."

Mr Raymond, from Bedfont, said he started his fundraising work after his two-month-old daughter, Sasha, tragically died in 1979, something he still has difficulty talking about.

He said: "I thought the only way to put something back in after losing my daughter was to start fundraising."

Mr Raymond thinks he raised about £500 from his collection this year and that a big part of his job was to raise awareness of the show and how to donate. Meanw hile, Buckland Primary School in Laleham also did their bit for

Children in Need on Friday as pupils decorated boxes to put their spare change in.

Emma Hawthorn, who works in the school office, said they were still counting the money because there was 11 boxes of coppers that needed to be sort through.

She said one of the boxes has been counted and contained £30. By the end of the BBC's show the national Children in Need total stood at almost £21m. .