SMILES will be brought to hundreds of children’s faces once again following the donation of more than 200 teddies to the Bring on the Smiles (BOTS) project thanks to a Year 6 pupil at St Stephens Community Academy in Launceston.

Dominic Baggett, who is an ambassador for the charity BOTS, which raises money and awareness of childhood cancer, was originally inspired to donate some teddies after meeting project founder Carla Antonia Riley-Wood, who sadly lost her second battle with cancer at the beginning of February. This year, as a fitting tribute to the woman who inspired Dominic to begin his donations he rallied his fellow classmates together and was grateful to all who donated to the cause.

Dominic and his family met Carla after he decided to donate some teddies he ‘rescued’ from a garage when a friend was moving house. He said he preferred to donate the teddies to a project that would put a smile on a young person’s face than just see them end up in a charity shop.

But this was just the beginning — after his first donation Dominic decided he wanted to do more and implored his father to ask his biker friends to hold a mini ‘ride out’. This resulted in more than 50 bikers coming together and more than 250 teddies being donated in 2016.

The popularity of this event was evident so the following year the bikers requested they hold it again. Dominic was delighted but wanted to make sure there were provisions in place to suitably reward the bikers efforts so his family got on social media and an even bigger event was staged. The day included stalls, hot food, a bouncy castle, face painting, a raffle and DJ to name a few. It was also decided, to switch things up for 2017, books would be collected instead of teddies. However, these proved tricky to carry on bikes so the charity reverted back to the original idea of teddies.

This event saw more than 80 bikers attend with the support of ‘Chequered Flag’, as the event continued to grow in popularity. There were so many donations of toys and money that the project agreed it would only be right to share the smiles with others. Donations were shared between BOTS, Children’s Hospice South West’s Little Harbour and CHICKS.

Unfortunately the third ride out had to be cancelled following bad weather and a number of broken bikes — but it is hoped this can be rescheduled at a later date. Despite this donations still came in thick and fast to St Stephens primary and more than 200 teddies will be donated to BOTS, Little Harbour and CHICKS.

It was felt by those at the school that this was a fitting was to remember the lady who had originally inspired Dominic to give so generously to such a good cause. Headteacher of St Stephens Community Academy Maura Furber said the whole school is so proud of Dominic’s efforts and were delighted to be able to help out this year: “We at St Stephens Community Academy are immensely proud of Dominic’s achievements to date, to have such compassion and respect for others is truly a gift to be celebrated. We would also like to say a huge thank you to all the children and families who donated a teddy/soft toy for such a worthwhile cause, such community spirit and action must be recognised and applauded.”

A minute’s silence was held during assembly recently to honour Carla, following which Dominic said: “Thank you everyone this is amazing.”