North West celebrities Bernard Cribbins, Timmy Mallett, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Diane Morgan (Philomena Cunk) and children’s author Shirley Hughes have been busy doodling to raise much-needed funds for national charity Epilepsy Action. National Doodle Day is on Friday February 5th and the proceeds will directly support the 600,000 people living with epilepsy in the UK.
Scribbles by the celebrities will go under the hammer in a three-day eBay auction, starting on National Doodle Day – Friday, February 5th.
Olivia Colman, Miriam Margolyes, Jose Mourinho, Fleur East, Bill Nighy, Sir Alan Ayckbourn andFrank Skinner have also ‘doodled their bit’ for epilepsy.
Eminent pop artist Sir Peter Blake has contributed a doodle for the event, along with a host of children’s authors and illustrators. The doodle auction will close on Sunday 7 February.
Over 1,300 celebrities, including Mary Berry, Steven Gerrard, Rita Ora, Eddie Redmayne and Sophie Dahl, have taken part in National Doodle Day since it began 13 years ago.
An Epilepsy Action survey revealed that 88 per cent of people with epilepsy worry about having a seizure when they are in public.
This is partly because they are concerned that members of public will not know what to do. National Doodle Day is a brilliant way to start a conversation about epilepsy.
Holy Rawlings, doodler in residence at Epilepsy Action, said: “Every year we are overwhelmed with doodle-tastic support from celebrities, and always look forward to seeing them all flooding in. National Doodle Day gives everyone a chance to get their hands on an original piece of art by their favourite celebrities.
“It also raises incredibly valuable funds for people affected by epilepsy all over the UK.”
National Doodle Day is the annual fundraiser for epilepsy that gets the nation squiggling.
As well as bidding for a celebrity scribble, Epilepsy Action is encouraging doodlers all over the country to ‘do a doodle and donate. Once people have doodled, they can donate online at nationaldoodleday.co.uk , or text DOODLE to 70300 (texts will cost £3 plus standard message charge).
The charity is encouraging people to share selfies of them with their doodle, and even nominate friends and family to take part on social media.
Epilepsy affects around one in every 100 people in the UK alone and 87 people are diagnosed with the condition every day.
Each year Epilepsy Action directly helps around 1.3 million people through a range of services, including its Epilepsy Action Helpline freephone 0808 800 5050, branch network, specialist nurse scheme and award-winning website, www.epilepsy.org.uk