91Èȱ¬

Generous 91Èȱ¬ Radio 2 listeners have raised £1,869,394 for this year's 91Èȱ¬ Children in Need Appeal.

Phil Hughes, Radio 2's Children in Need Co-ordinator comments: "Children In Need is one of the highlights in Radio 2's calendar of events and I'd like to thank all of our listeners for their unstinting generosity."

Sir Terry Wogan's auction of Things Money Can't Buy on his breakfast show Monday to Thursday, Chris Evans' Drivetime Dine and Drive Disco auction on Thursday afternoon, and Friday's Music Marathon, all formed part of the network's week-long round of fundraising activities.

Listeners to Wake Up To Wogan raised £460,500 in the Things Money Can't Buy auction, with one of this year's highest bids fetching £35,000 for Children In Need for a cookery and food package donated by legendary chef Raymond Blanc.

Sir Terry says of the amount raised by Radio 2 listeners for the charity: "The great British public have brushed off the cobwebs of recession and come up trumps by raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for the children. Hoorah for the Radio 2 listeners!"

Other auction packages included a VIP lunch with national treasures Maureen Lipman, Michael Palin and Terry Wogan which also raised £35,000, a private performance by Aled Jones, Sharon Corr and Hayley Westenra which raised £32,000 and a festive trip of a lifetime to Neil Diamond's exclusive Christmas party in Malibu which contributed £27,000.

An exclusive wedding package from Jeff Banks, Ritva Westenius and Jimmy Choo added £30,000 to the total and a 16 night cruise on the new luxury liner, The Azura, raised £21,000 from non other than an ex-navy member!

Chris Evans also held an auction in his Radio 2 Drivetime show on Thursday afternoon, raising £530,823.

Chris auctioned places in seven Ferrari sports-cars (Chris's own 250 GT Short Wheel Base, The 246 Dino, The 250 GT Lusso, The F40, The 288 GTO, The 275 GTB4 and The James Coburn California Spyder), where the successful bidders have won the opportunity to drive all of the cars during a four-day drive and dine extravaganza. They will enjoy the amazing hospitality of the driver's banquet at Chewton Glen in the New Forest and will also get to go up the world-famous hill climb at Goodwood in one of the cars, in front of tens of thousands of people.

They will also have the rare opportunity of heading to a race track to meet Top Gear's The Stig, where he will drive them round a flying lap in one of the world's most exciting supercars. The total raised was £240,313.

Also auctioned on the show were 30 tables of two for the Drive Time Dine and Disco 2010 at Chris' pub, raising £290,510. Included in the package is a round of golf, champagne reception, food by Giorgio Locatelli, Chris DJ-ing and live music in the tipi from The Feeling!

The Music Marathon on Friday fetched £364,949, when listeners pledged money to hear their favourite song, and £416,559 has been raised by the sales of Janet and John CDs.

Full information on Radio 2's Children in Need fundraising activities can be found at bbc.co.uk/radio2.

Radio 2 Publicity