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Oxford Street and Regent Street Returned to Shoppers to Raise Funds for Kids Company

For the first time ever, Oxford Street and Regent Street will be returned to shoppers and made traffic free for an entire weekend.
Fashion & Retail - 9 December 2011   Download IconContent available for download:  
Audio | Interview with Camila Batmanghelidjh| Login to Download

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Camila Batmanghelidjh is the founder and director of Kids Company where she and her team care for 14,000 vulnerable children and young people in London. Camila has been a psychotherapist for more than twenty years where she has created a unique and pioneering approach in delivering services to vulnerable children. Being an advocate for vulnerable children, speaking regularly at conferences and contributing to numerous publications, Camila has been described as "Britain's most colourful charity leader" and in 2009 the Women in Public Life Awards named her Businesswoman of the Year

. Introduction:

The average shopper spends three days, six hours and 35 minutes per year shopping around for gifts for their loved ones. Women tend to be early bird Christmas shoppers in November compared to nearly half of men (45%) who plan to leave shopping until December. With crowded streets, a herd of children in tow and corny Christmas songs played back to back, does Christmas shopping really need to be such a stressful experience?

This weekend, Oxford Street and Regent Street will be returned to shoppers from Saturday 10th-Sunday 11th December for a traditional, magical West End Christmas celebration and traffic-free shopping weekend. To capture all that is best about traditional Christmas shopping, American Express are for the first time ever inviting VIP's (Very Important Pedestrians!) to enjoy two days traffic free shopping on the festive filled streets in order to have a magical and hasslefree experience!

The weekend hopes to make shopping a family friendly experience, with activities including a 30 hour Carol-A-Thon kicking off with 15 carollers called Carol! Shoppers can enjoy a guilt-free spree as the weekend will be raising funds for Kids Company, a charity that provides support to vulnerable inner-city children. For many children Christmas can be a time of devastating loneliness and poverty, without the charity's support many children wouldn't receive acts of kindness like a hug, a present or a hot meal. The money raised across the weekend will give 3,000 disadvantaged children a Christmas they otherwise wouldn't have.

. Suggested Questions:

So what does the research reveal about Christmas shopping in our area?

Can you tell us what the American Express Shop West End VIP Weekend is all about?

What can shoppers expect when they get there?

How can shoppers� help raise money for Kids Company this weekend?

How will the money raised make a difference to the fourteen thousand children Kids Company helps?

How can our listeners get involved?

Where can we find out more information?