Manning the phones at BT Tower for Children in Need

By Graham Pottie, chief operating officer for BT Agilemedia

Some of my colleagues have been involved in Telethons in the past and it looked like great fun. So when BT asked for volunteers I jumped at the chance. Why? Because I wanted to give something back and I just wanted to contribute.

This is only the second time I have worked in a call centre like this. In March we provided the communications for Comic Relief, which I really enjoyed, so I wanted to do something like it again.

Working at BT Tower’s call centre on a night like this is really busy. There were about a hundred and twenty desks and I must have taken at least fifty calls from people during my seven hour shift. And this was after a day’s work.

People were very generous and donations came in all sizes- from £10 up…the highest being £1,000. So on my phone alone roughly £4000 was collected over the evening.

There was a great atmosphere everyone was really engaged and just pleased to be there and keen and eager to help.

Early on in the evening Matt Cardell of X Factor fame put in an appearance and sang us all a song. That went down really well.

There’s lots of silliness and always something going on, like the BBC News readers’ dance. I was just really motivated to contribute and be part of it all. And I’m lucky that I could be because I work for BT.

Children in Need is now such a landmark event that it has a place on most people’s calendars. So many small charities are supported, which help in so many different ways. Some of them are highlighted on the TV, but there are so many more.

I would definitely do it again, because it’s a great opportunity to do something that is so positive and makes a difference to so many people.  It was a really wonderful experience – and it’s not too late to donate by visiting the Children in Need page on the MyDonate website.