Early indications are that a record breaking 120,000 people from all walks of life took to the streets on Saturday 28th October giving time instead of money to improve the lives of others. Among those taking part were the Chancellor's wife, Sarah Brown and the Prime Minister's wife, Cherie Booth.

Other celebrities lending their support to the campaign included Eamon Holmes, Wendi Peters, Sian Lloyd, Oliver Rowe, Kirsty King, Andrea Maflin, Hugh-Fearnley Whittingstall, Kelly Holmes, and Jo Swift.

CSV Make a Difference Day supported by Barclays Communities Investment Programme, is a mass volunteering event for improving lives in just one day. Just some of the 4000 events taking place included:

Cherie Booth makes surprise visit to Barnardo's shop
Barnardo's President Cherie Booth QC gave up her Saturday morning to volunteer at the charity shop in support of CSV Make a Difference Day to encourage people to volunteer.

Cherie Booth showed her support by giving the store some unwanted items of her own and getting involved in some of the many activities carried out by volunteers at Barnardo's shops; including steaming clothes, stacking racks and shelves and designing window displays.

The Chancellor's wife shares brownies with the brownies
The Chancellor of the Exchequer's wife, Sarah Brown joined the 6th Kirkcaldy Brownies of Fife at a volunteer chocolate brownie baking event. Money raised from the sale of fair-trade brownies will be donated to the Jennifer Brown Research Fund Fife Appeal, in memory of their daughter.

Trevor Nelson helps young stars with big break
Young people from a disadvantaged part of London are enjoying a new range of skills and a boost to their confidence thanks to DJ and presenter, Trevor Nelson.

Nelson spent several hours with the kids showing them tricks of the trade and giving them advice on making it in the media industry. The young people are all from the Media for All project in Lewisham, a charity that provides radio and TV training for young disadvantaged people aged 13-20 years old.

Faithless restores hope to homeless youth
Maxi Jazz, the Faithless co-founder, took part in a football match with disadvantaged young people to "kick start" this year's CSV Make a Difference Day campaign.

Jazz, who is passionate about the plight of the homeless, jumped at the opportunity to support CSV Make a Difference Day by volunteering his time with Street League, a charity which uses football as a tool to engage disadvantaged young men and women who are often referred from agencies such as homeless hostels, refugees and drug rehabilitation projects.

The Urban Chef 'digs' Kings Cross
TV's Urban Chef, Oliver Rowe gave his time for free to help out at The Calthorpe Project, a community garden in Kings Cross.

Working alongside other local volunteers Oliver helped to promote the use of organic food by planting herbs and teaching young children about the importance of healthy eating. A strong supporter of local initiatives, Oliver hopes to use the herbs in his own kitchen.

TV stars bring sparkle to rundown children's playground
Disadvantaged children in Stockwell are enjoying a brighter new playground thanks to TV personalities Sian Lloyd (ITV weather) and Andrea Maflin (This Morning/GMTV).

The charity run play area is a much needed local resource for children and their families, and the make-over was desperately needed. Volunteers worked all day painting new lines on the sports pitch, painting new games on the playground floor and creating new murals throughout the site.
For more information about CSV Make a Difference Day call FREEPHONE 0800 284 533 or visit www.csv.org.uk/difference


ENDS


Further press information: Esther Freeman, CSV Make a Difference Day Press Office on 020 7812 0035 or email: efreeman@csv.org.uk Out of office hours: 07981 591150

Latest press releases: www.csv.org.uk/press

Notes for editors

1. A range of photos of the celebrities is available upon request

2. CSV Make a Difference Day takes place on Saturday 28 October 2006, and activities take part a week either side. Around 120,000 people gave time rather than money to improve their local community. The campaign is organised by CSV (Community Service Volunteers) and supported by Barclays community investment programme and the Home Office Active Communities Directorate.

3. CSV (Community Service Volunteers) creates opportunities for people to take an active part in the life of their communities through volunteering, training and community action. Each year 195,000 people give 4.9 million hours of their time as volunteers through CSV. CSV trains 11,500 people of all ages.

4. Barclays PLC actively encourages employee involvement and provides direct support through its employee community programmes. These include paid time off in work time for volunteering, grants for group volunteering activities, matched fundraising and matched payroll giving.

5. In 2005, more than 26,000 Barclays employees around the world took advantage of the support available to them for their work in the community - to the benefit of more than 7,500 charities and community groups.

6. More than 10,000 Barclays employees took part in Make A Difference Day activities globally, including projects in Africa and Spain. Volunteering activity included mentoring, beach clearing, gardening and painting.

7. Barclays is taking its community investment responsibilities seriously - investing £39.1 million in 2005. The organisation focuses on the areas where it can use its knowledge and expertise to make the biggest difference to key social issues. In the UK, this includes programmes about money education, debt advice, financial inclusion and getting people into work. Barclays also strives to strengthen the local communities in which they operate, and are investing £30 million over three years in grassroots sport through Barclays Spaces for Sports.

8. For further information see social responsibility at http://www.barclays.com. Media enquiries contact: Jon Logie, Barclays PLC on 0207 116 6040.


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