CHARITABLE folk are really letting their creative juices flow and coming up with novel ways to ensure this year's Children in Need goes with a bang.

Everything from face-painting sessions and fancy dress to sponsored walks, X-Factor-style competitions and charity gigs are on the cards across Worcestershire and Herefordshire for the big day today.

And schools, businesses, organisations and individuals in the two counties are all pulling together to do their bit, in a bid to help the nation smash last year's total of £17m raised.

Here is just a taste of what is going on:

l Worcester's Bromwich Road Mission Church was due to hold a bring-and-buy sale last night, with refreshments, various stalls, games and quizzes.

l Bands Milk2Sugars, Backwash, Fallout Theory, Covergirl and Two Shot Blast will be doing their bit with a charity concert - Punk For Pudsey - at the Marr's Bar in Worcester's Pierpoint Street tomorrow night.

l Pupils at Leapfrog Day Nursery in Warndon, Worcester, Norton Pre-School in Littleworth, Whittington CE Primary School in Whittington and Great Malvern Primary School in Malvern are among those wearing fancy dress on the day to raise cash. Norton Pre-School youngsters will also be baking cakes.

l Staff at HSBC in Worcester's Broad Street will be selling cakes, having a raffle and dressing up as cowboys, Indians and lollypop ladies all day today.

l Worcester News columnist Dave Bradley has been doing five charity walks across Worcestershire and Herefordshire all week, including one today from Bromsgrove to Worcester joined by Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff and Worcester City MP Mike Foster.

l Worcester City Council's financial services section is holding a cake sale and organising a dress-down day today.

l Bishop Perowne CE High School in Merriman's Hill Road, Barbourne, Worcester is holding a 'Bling Day' today where pupils will be allowed to wear as much jewellery as they can to be crowned 'King or Queen of Bling'. DJ and rapper MC Fuller will also visit the school at 1.30pm to perform to the children.

l Catering staff at Worcester's Royal Grammar School in The Tything, Barbourne, have been holding a cake sale all this week and hope to raise more than £100.

l Face-painter Debbie McCammon has been visiting 'Jo Jingles' music classes in Worcester and Droitwich all this week, painting youngsters' faces for charity. She will be at Lyppard Grange Community Centre in Ankerage Green, Warndon Villages, Worcester, today. The sessions will also continue all next week.

l Children at The Grange Nursery at Lyppard Grange Community Centre in Millwood Drive, Worcester, will be performing songs in front of an audience of parents as part of a charity coffee morning. Youngsters are also making cakes for sale and there is also a raffle.

l A teddy bears' picnic and non-uniform day is set to take place at Great Witley CE Primary School today.

l Pupils at The Chase Technology College in Geraldine Avenue, Malvern will be taking part in the 'Chase Factor' competition - an event in the style of the hit television programme the X-Factor - at 7.30pm.

l Pyjamas will be the fashion of the day at Droitwich Spa Nursery and Kindergarten - known as The Hollies - in Droitwich's Worcester Road, as youngsters come in in their night wear to raise cash.

THIS year's Children in Need turned into a hair-raising experience for one Worcester student. Matthew Skilbeck, who is studying at Worcester Sixth Form College, decided to have his legs waxed by Rhiannon Kerslake, left, and Grace Briney to raise funds for the BBC's charity extravaganza, which takes over our televisions this evening. But the painful fund-raising ordeal proved worthwhile, raising £138. The 17-year old said: "I just felt I had to do something. I mentioned it and my friends thought it would be a good idea." There will be more photos of the thousands of kind-hearted Worcestershire folk taking part in Children in Need in tomorrow's Worcester News.