PUDSEY time is here again and Redditch Lions Club will be in the Kingfisher Shopping Centre collecting for Children in Need this Friday, November 17.

The group will be in Kingfisher Walk, near the entrance to car park 4.

The club started a collection when the first telethon was broadcast in 1980.

Collecting in the town centre (the Kingfisher was yet to be completed), the donations were put towards the BBC’s aim of raising £1 million.

Several club members rushed off to Pebble Mill studios with a massive cardboard cheque hoping to get on the telly.

Since that first collection, the club has collected every year in the Kingfisher Centre and to date the total donated by the people of Redditch has exceeded £45,000.

Brian Rich, from the Redditch Lions Club, said: "Every year, we see our regulars, people who come to us in the Kingfisher Centre with their own collections that they have saved up over the year. We look forward to seeing you again this year, and don't forget those old pound coins and five pound notes - we'll take those for the collection too."

For more details, go to redditchlions.org.uk