History

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“The Story of Christmas” at St George’s Hanover Square was founded in 1978. Over the past thirty-four years the Appeal has raised more than £5 million for charities helping disadvantaged children, young people and the homeless. In good and difficult economic times “The Story of Christmas” has been fortunate in gaining the generous support of many companies, individuals and trusts.

Countless charities and projects have been funded by the Appeal over the years. Notably, the Appeal funded an Annexe at the Children’s Emergency Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan and a new hydro-therapy pool at the Cheyne Centre for Cerebral Palsy. Support has also been provided to the Barnardos Meadows School (a residential and day school for children with special educational needs), to Middlesex Hospital (for the Intensive Therapy Unit to acquire a kidney machine) and to Centrepoint Bruce House (a hostel for young homeless people in Covent Garden) so that they could build a bright new communal space. More recently, donations have been used to build the Judi Dench Rehearsal Room at the Unicorn Theatre and to purchase a minibus for the Kidsactive Charlie Chaplin Playground in Kennington.

The Appeal has been able to attract significant support from many of the major property companies in central London as well as other large corporations, including Jones Lang LaSalle, Knight Frank, CBRE, Cluttons, Cushman & Wakefield, the Leander Group, Allsop LLP, Rugby Estates PLC, Land Securities, Coutts, Stanhope and Sir Robert McAlpine.

The Event has welcomed a great host of distinguished readers including Sir John Gielgud, Dame Barbara Cartland, Dame Judi Dench, Baroness Thatcher, Edward Heath, Stephen Fry, Rowan Atkinson, Sir Robin Day, David Frost, Joanna Lumley, Aled Jones, Daniel Craig, Ian Hislop, Edward Fox, Penelope Keith and Felecity Kendall. Principal guests have included HRH The Princess Royal, TRH Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, HRH The Duchess of Gloucester, Diana Princess of Wales, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.