Cast members from the TV drama Downton Abbey attended the Rainbow Trust children's charity's 25th anniversary ball in London this month

Third Sector

 

Celebrities: Allen Leech, Hugh Bonneville, Dan Stevens, Julian Fellowes, Alesha Dixon, Charlie Condou, Anthony Horowitz, Fern Britton, Simon Pegg, Helena Bonham Carter, Eric Clapton, Ricky Gervais, Alan Shearer

Third Sector, 25 October 2011

[l-r] Allen Leech, Hugh Bonneville and Dan Stevens

This week's round-up of famous names supporting charities- Cast members from the TV drama Downton Abbey including Allen Leech, Hugh Bonneville and Dan Stevens attended the Rainbow Trust children's charity's 25th anniversary ball in London this month. The show's writer, Julian Fellowes, and other actors from the series also turned out to support the event, which raised £200,000 for the charity.

- The singer and Strictly Come Dancing judge Alesha Dixon has fronted a video for the League Against Cruel Sports, calling for the ban on hunting with dogs to be maintained. Dixon is a vice-president of the charity. "Animals have always been a big part of my life," she said. "I'm passionately against any kind of cruelty towards animals."

- The actor Charlie Condou, who plays Marcus Dent in Coronation Street, took part in a successful attempt to break the world record for the longest reading relay, organised in London by the RNIB. A total of 317 people took turns to read aloud a sentence from an exclusive story written by the author Anthony Horowitz. The event marked the launch of Read for RNIB Day, which is aiming to raise awareness of reading services for blind and partially sighted people.
- Celebrities including the presenter Fern Britton, the actors Simon Pegg and Helena Bonham Carter, the musician Eric Clapton and the comedian Ricky Gervais are offering hats for auction to raise funds for the homelessness charity St Mungo's.The auctions tie in with the charity's Woolly Hat Day, which takes place on 4 November. The charity is asking supporters to "put their hat on for homeless people" and fundraise for St Mungo's through activities such as being sponsored to wear a silly hat.

- The former England football captain Alan Shearer returned to the Wallsend Boys Club, where he played football during his youth, to visit the charity's new football centre. The construction of the facility was supported by a grant of £850,000 from the Football Foundation. "Without grass-roots football there is no football," said Shearer. "It's where it starts."