Today marks a milestone for the BBC’s Comic Relief spectacular, with it taking place for the 35th time.
The first live fundraising event took place on April 4, 1986.
The extravaganza had been founded the previous year by comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the famine in Ethiopia.
In the three-and-a-half decades since, Comic Relief has raised more than £1.4billion for good causes across the UK and Africa.
The event has been well supported by kind-hearted people from across Southend, Basildon and Castle Point. We have dipped into our archive to pick out ten of our favourite snaps from the past decade.
They range from celebrities getting involved to a resident sitting in horse manure.
Read more:
- Princess Anne and Bobby Moore among big names to have visited Rayleigh over the years
- When the Queen and other members of the Royal Family headed to south Essex
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