On Saturday, Anne-Marie Martin, founder of diddi dance and our three diddis – Davey, Daisy & Dannee, all spent the day at the Caudwell Children’s Centre for the Children’s Activities Week Showcase.
We want to say thank you to everyone who came along to dance our special kindness themed week in our classes, and a huge thank you for all of your donations making such a difference to so many children’s lives 💜
The countdown has begun! In just two weeks we are taking part in Children’s Activities Week 2022 💜
We are a Hero partner and would love to help as many disabled & autistic children and their families as possible get the support they need. We have set a fundraising target of £5000, that allows Caudwell Children to give a child an autism assessment at the purpose-built Caudwell International Children’s Centre and 12 months of post-diagnostic support 💜
Join us between 21st – 27th March for our special KINDNESS themed classes and follow us on social media to find out how you can help reach our fundraising target 🕺🏿💃🏻
Will you be joining us on Saturday 27th June, to see our founder, Anne-Marie Martin attempt a 24hour diddi danceathon for Caudwell Children?💃🏻🕺🏾
This week should have been Children’s Activities Week 2020 and while we wait for the right time for it to take place, we are excited to help raise vital funds for Caudwell Children’s emergency fundraising appeal.
This awesome charity changes the lives of disabled children by providing access to the services, equipment, therapies and treatments they so desperately need 💚💗💙
We can’t wait for the challenge to begin and see which exciting guests will be joining her online.
If you would like to sponsor Anne-Marie you can do so here 🤩
The event will be streamed live on our diddi dance facebook and instagram pages.
We hope you will join us and all support is welcomed. See you then!
diddi dance are excited to announce that we have officially become a hero partner for Children’s Activity Week 2020.
Children’s Activity Week will take place next summer from 8th-13th June 2020 to fundraise for Caudwell Children.
Its also a chance for us to celebrate the hundreds of thousands of activities, clubs and classes running across the UK, benefiting both parents and children, from babies to primary school age. The variety of activities highlight the many health, well-being, social and educational benefits for the whole family.
Along with the inspiring and dedicated people, companies and experts that provide these amazing activities, everyone takes part in a whole week of fun and fundraising to change the lives of children with autism and continues to raise standards across all children’s activities.
The theme in 2019 was ‘Watch Me Fly’ and raised a staggering £139,000.
The launch event takes place in February so look out for more information, and we hope you’ll be able to join us in one of our classes during the week to celebrate.
Groups of enthusiastic children all across the UK are set to take on a sponsored Watch Me Fly dance challenge with children’s toddler and preschool dance classes, diddi dance, as a challenge this week, 13th – 17th May, as part of a national campaign in Children’s Activities Week, to raise money to improve support for children with autism, with charity Caudwell Children.
The challenge will take place as part of the regular diddi dance classes and the children will swap their normal classes for the sponsored challenge as part of the national Children’s Activities Week campaign.
diddi dance children, from classes nationwide, will form part of an estimated 120,000 children across the country in completing the challenge as part of the national campaign to raise awareness and money to provide support for autistic children through the charity, Caudwell Children. 
Autism directly affects over 2.5million people in the UK every day and it is proven that early detection and intervention is the most effective way of managing behaviour relating to autism. But across the UK families can regularly wait years to receive an autism assessment for their child and, once diagnosed, often have to fight for any kind of support.
The money raised from the sponsored challenge will fund assessments and practical support for autistic children at the new Caudwell International Children’s Centre, the UK’s first independent purpose-built centre dedicated to autism.
Activity Leader, Anne-Marie Martin, founder of diddi dance, said:
“We are proud to be a part of Children’s Activities Week and all of the children have had lots of fun practicing for our diddi dance Watch Me Fly challenge this week.
At diddi dance we are passionate about giving children the best start in life and by taking part in Children’s Activities Week we are taking that beyond our classes and helping other children as well.”
Children’s Activities Week is a partnership between the Children’s Activities Association, a not-for-profit membership organisation and national charity, Caudwell Children.
For more information about Children’s Activities Week or Caudwell Children visit www.caudwellchildren.com/caw2019.
Two of our franchises recently took part in Children in Need and helped raise money for the charity during some of their classes on the 18th November.
diddi dance Bristol and diddi dance Swindon, Cirencester, Chippenham, Tetbury & Surrounding took part in the charity event asking their diddis to bring in a teddy bear to class to dance with them that week. Donation were then accepted from anyone willing to help. Here are some great shots captured from the classes that took part!
We want all our diddi dancers to put on their dancing shoes next week as our classes have partner up with Macmillan Cancer Support to get little ones moving and grooving in aid of the charity’s Dress Up And Dance campaign.
The national campaign is a perfect fit for us and we hope it will see parents & children don colourful, creative and whacky fancy dress to attend our classes all next week. To celebrate this year’s theme of ‘heroes’, there will be specially themed classes across the UK for the whole family to enjoy including… So toddlers joining in can seek costume inspiration from anywhere such as sport to music to politics, so feel free to let their imagination run wild.
Macmillan Cancer Support is a fantastic charity that provides all kinds of support to children and families affected by cancer. They help with financial worries, medical information, emotional support and much, much more. They’re also constantly campaigning for better cancer care for all because no one should face cancer alone.
Founder of diddi dance, Anne-Marie Martin commented:
We are so proud and excited to be involved in Macmillan’s fantastic Dress Up And Dance campaign again this year, it is a natural fit with our weekly dance classes and dressing up is something that we know all our little ones and families will thoroughly enjoy. I hope we raise a fantastic amount this year!
Macmillan is a charity that is especially close to our hearts and resonates with the whole diddi dance team as we have all been affected in one way or another by this disease. The work of the charity to support everyone affected by cancer is truly remarkable and we hope that the money we raise helps Macmillan to continue their worthwhile and essential work to support those affected by cancer.”
From Saturday 11 to Friday 17 June, diddi dance classes across the UK will be taking part in Macmillan Cancer Support’s Dress Up and Dance campaign. All we ask in return is a small donation of £2 for this wonderful charity. To find your local diddi dance class just click here.
To see more of the dress up fun our diddis had taking part last year just click here. To join in the fun on social media simply look out for & use the hashtag #dressupanddiddidance
Some of our franchisees recently took part in Children in Need and helped raise money for the charity during their classes the week commencing 9th November.
diddi dance Bristol, diddi dance Woking, Guildford & Farnborough and diddi dance Eastbourne, Uckfield & Hastings all took part in the charity event asking their diddis to bring in a teddy bear to class to dance with them that week. Donation were then accepted from anyone willing to help. Here are some great shots captured from the week at all three locations!
All together our 3 franchisees raised a total £201.15! Well done to all the diddis and teddies who took part and helped raise money for Children in Need. We all say Thank You!
Franchisee Angie Jury of diddi dance Royal Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Hawkhurst & Surrounding held a fantastic fundraiser for Sands, a stillbirth and neonatal death charity, earlier this month. Angie herself sadly had to go through the loss of her unborn son recently and wanted to give back to the charity that offered her so much support during that time.
The ‘diddi dance Summer Party in aid of Sands’ was held on Saturday, 1 August and was a sell out event – with all ticket and raffle sales going to the charity.
Prior to the party it received some great coverage from the Courier, a local newspaper:
And the the event itself was a hit and everyone who attended had a great time – especially when it came time to diddi dance!
Angie had the following to say about it all:
The party was a sell out with over 40 families turning out in their summer clothes to dance to the reggae beat, share picnics, munch on yummy cake and buy tickets for the raffle which included top donated prizes from local businesses. It was very healing and humbling to be able to organise such a fun filled event in memory of such a tragic loss of my son Robin and help support other parents who face the same awful circumstances. We raised over £420 on the day and added to donations made by customers, friends and family the total raised in Robin’s memory for Sands UK is £1170!
We couldn’t be happier for Angie having such a successful fundraiser and raising such a great amount for Sands. If you have been affected by Angie’s story and would like to donate to this wonderful charity please visit https://www.uk-sands.org/donate to do so.
