THOUSANDS of children across York are ready to celebrate Red Nose Day today.

Among them are the pupils from 38 of York's 52 primary schools who have recorded a Comic Relief video for Red Nose Day comprising of short clips of staff or pupils making their faces funny for money with a special backing track sung by the children recorded at Melrose Yard Recording Studios in Walmgate.

John Hattam, the community outreach worker at Clifton Green School, who has headed up the project, said the video has gone down a storm, attracting 20,000 views on Facebook since The Press first covered the story last month.

Mr Hattam said: "It's just great that the video has entertained so many people and so far we've raised £1,500.

"It just goes to show what can be done when children join together for a good cause. Everyone involved so far has enjoyed the process and I'd like to thank all those schools who participated for their fantastic efforts."

The aim is to raise £2,000 for the charity with Riccall Carers and Sinclair Properties two of the most recent companies to donate, joining 50 other sponsors from across the city and helping towards the total so far.

One of the schools involved in the project was Burton Green Primary School, also in Clifton, where pupils held their own Comic Relief fundraising event yesterday with youngsters having fun in a photobooth to capture their funny faces.

Deputy head Christopher O’Malley said: "The school and their PTFA - parents, teachers and friends association - wanted to do something different for the children, something that they would enjoy getting involved in and so they could make their “faces funny for money”. They came up with the idea of the photobooth as this is something that combines all three.

"The children came in fancy dress and had a cake sale and we hope to have raised about £200.

"The children had a wonderful day raising money for Comic Relief. Year 3 did an assembly to which parents were invited, explaining about the charity and they even told some jokes."

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