Youngsters across Comet country have been dressing up, baking cakes and raised money for BBC’s Children in Need.

The Comet: Jack Wilson and Ben Gifford baked over 140 cupcakes with a Pudsey theme and raised £82.35 for Children in Need.Jack Wilson and Ben Gifford baked over 140 cupcakes with a Pudsey theme and raised £82.35 for Children in Need. (Image: Archant)

Hundreds of pounds were donated to help needy children in the UK in the run up to the annual charity event, which took place on Friday.

Ruby Walsh, Aleisha O’Connor and Tegan-Marie Rodriguez, all aged 12, raised more than £350 for the charity by completing a bike ride.

Undeterred by pouring rain, the John Henry Newman School students completed a 10-mile circuit from Stevenage Old Town to Fairlands Valley Park and back in about two hours.

Ruby said: “It was fun, but I didn’t realise there were so many hills in Stevenage!”

Members of Hitchin Bridge Club played their cards right and raised £513.65 for Pudsey.

The games were part of the English Bridge Union’s Children in Need Simultaneous Pairs competition when nearly 2,000 pairs across the UK played the same cards.

Hitchin Lions Club held a collection at the town train station on Friday and received more than £200 in donations in two hours from generous early morning commuters.

Jack Wilson and Ben Gifford from Henlow C of E Academy baked about 140 cupcakes with a Pudsey theme and raised £82.35 for Children in Need.

The rest of the school supported the charity by paying money to dress up as superheroes, both well-known, real and creative heroes.

There were several spider, bat and supermen or women, as well as firemen, policemen and even a ‘laundry man’.

Headteacher Caren Earp dressed in an RAF pilot’s jumpsuit. She said: “There are many superheroes in the world – some with magical powers and some who are superheroes in their daily life.

“In this week of Remembrance, when we dedicated our new Garden of Remembrance, it’s important to remember our real superheroes.”