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It’s nearly Christmas and the season of the charity single is in full swing! Hot on the heels of Young Soul Rebels War Child charity single, the X Factor finalists are due to release their now annual charity effort. It will certainly be a hit if the success of last year’s smash single Hero in aid of Help For Heroes is anything to go by, which raised in excess of £1 million for the charity.

This year’s song is a cover of the Michael Jackson hit You Are Not Alone and cash raised from the sale of the record will go to Great Ormond Street Hospital, one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals.

A minimum of £1 from the sale of each copy of the single will go to the charity which needs to raise over £50 million every year to keep helping children get some of the best medical treatment in the world.

The contestants will perform the single for the first time on The X Factor during the results show on Sunday November 15 and will be released the next day. It is is available to pre-order now at iTunes, Amazon and Play.com.

X Factor Finalist Release Charity Single for Great Ormand Street

Even though today is Remembrance Day it’s not too late to donate to this years Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal. The charity has a number of new ways to support them, from the hardworking volunteers in supermarkets to the new iPhone application!

Support the Poppy appeal through music
Various singers including Jamie Callum, Radiohead, Only Men Aloud, Morpheus Rising (whose front man S/Sgt Graeme Tennick is a member of 2 Signal Regiment), The Soldiers made up of 3 serving soldiers, Mark Knopfler, Athlete are all raising money for the Poppy Appeal.

A whole heap of musical talent making up 200 people got together to record the song, “We Will Remember Them”, at Abbey Road Studios with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Singers included Bee Gees Robin Gibb, Michael Bolton, Mica Paris Natasha Hamilton and Liz McLarnon. The song was released on download on Remembrance Sunday, 8 November, and is now available on CD.

Show Your Poppy and Support the Poppy Appeal this Remembrance Day

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According to the Office for National Statistics, prostate cancer was the second most common cancer diagnosed in 2007, the top one being breast cancer. Looking at the NOS graph there appears to be less than 10,000 difference in the numbers of breast and prostate cancer diagnosis in 2007. Breast cancer is very much in the public consciousness with high profile campaigns by charities and health organisations, such as October being global Breast Cancer Awareness month but is enough being done for cancers that effect men?

The organisers of Movember say no! Movember previously known as November, is a month long campaign which aims to highlight men’s health issues and raise money for the Prostate Cancer Charity. They aim to change the face of Men’s Health one moustache at a time.

To get involved you start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven (though I’m sure you can join in later on) and then you have the rest of the month to grow and groom your moustache. Ladies, you can join in too by registering your support for your moustache growing partner. Once you sign up to Movember you will be further known as a Mo Bro and Mo Sista until the end of the campaign at the end of Movember.

While you grow and looking after your Mo, each Bro will become a walking billboard for men’s health and through encouraging your family, friends and workmates to sponsor your efforts, raise essential funds for Movember’s men’s health partner – The Prostate Cancer Charity.

To date, Movember has raised over £30 million globally for the fight against prostate cancer and depression in men. As a direct result, male awareness of health issues has improved with Movember helping to spread health messages directly to millions of Mo Bros & Sistas around the world.

Grow Your Mo for Mens Health Awareness

Become a fan on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/MovemberUK
Follow Movember on Twitter http://twitter.com/MovemberUK

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Children in Need is just around the corner and we’ve already seen the release of Pudsey t-shirts, a celebrity gig and even adding a digital bandana to your social networking avatar, this year’s Children in Need will also involve an epic challenge – a trip around the world! 6 pairs of celebrities will take on Phileas Fogg’s adventure with an 80 days around the world trip!

You can follow their journey on the Pudsey website and even bid on their goodies! The partners are Frank Skinner and Lee Mack, Nick Hewer and Saira Kahn, Julia Bradbury and Matt Baker, Bill Turnbull and Louise Minchin, John Barrowman and Myleene Klass, Shane Ritchie and Josie Lawrence.

The trip has been split into 6 parts and the pairs of celebrities will undertake one section of the trip which is essentially a relay around the world! The trip is taking place in real time and they must get to the meeting locations on their scheduled dates to pass on the baton to the next team!

You will also be given the chance to own some of the amazing memorabilia the celebrities gathered during their epic round the world adventure by taking part in the auction after each show. You can watch their adventures every Tuesday at 9pm on BBC One up until Children in Need on Friday 20th November.

This adventure is to help raise more funds and awareness of Children in Need and it is without question a lot of hard work and effort has gone into it. However, in the current economic climate, where other UK charities who are not as lucky to have the BBC as a chief fundraiser are struggling with lack of grants and declining public donations.

Perhaps it’s the time to question whether it is morally and ethically dodgy to spend what must be a considerably large amount of money on a trip like this?

Would the BBC be better off donating the money directly to the charity?

Buy Children in Need Pudsey Goodies at BBC Shop

One of the most popular gift ideas around Christmas is the Santa Letter. Quite simply it’s a personalised letter for a child that appears to have come from Father Christmas himself. It’s a fun gift and gives a child something special to open, perhaps before Christmas Day itself. There are a number of places to Letters from Santa but once again this year you can help The NSPCC who have their own offer.

For just a £5 donation you can not only get a letter to Santa for your own child, grandchild, godchild, niece, nephew etc but also help other children as well. The letters are available in English and Welsh and there’s a special version for Baby’s First Christmas letter. You can order as many letters as you like (as well as offer more than £5 in donation).

Your chosen recipient will be sent a personalised and unique Christmas gift and the donation will go to the NSPCC to help fund their continued work to eradicate child cruelty. The letters are designed by Jason Chapman and the site is sponsored by Hotpoint. Letters will be sent after the 1st December.

Other Letters from Santa gifts cost around the same amount of money, but with this option you know your money is helping others this Christmas!