Dressing as Peter Pan - Thornhill Primary attempt world record in aid of GOSH

Published: 7 May 2010
by EMINE SIMMAZ

THORNHILL Primary School took part in a nationwide attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest number of people dressed as Peter Pan – all in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

On Friday, the assembly hall of Thornhill Primary School was a sea of green, full to the brim with almost 400 children – and teachers – dressed-up as the boy who never grew up.

10-year-old Keisha Walters said: “I think it is a really good cause because the people of GOSH really do a lot for children.” 

Her classmate Myles Calderazzo, 10, said that he was hoping that the money they raised would buy the hospital’s children “equipment, toys and books.”

JM Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, was a strong supporter of GOSH and gave all the rights to the story to the hospital in 1929. 

Since then, the hospital has received royalties every time a production of the play is put on, as well as from the sale 

of Peter Pan books and other products.

Peter Pan Week began in 2008, enabling schoolchildren to get involved in the fundraising 

process. 

This year GOSH are aiming to raise £160,000 from Peter Pan Week to help build two new en-suite bedrooms in the cardiac centre. 

Headteacher Matt Chapple said that as well as being fun, the event “gives children a sense of responsibility and brings the school community together”.