Special Lapland trip is the highlight of the year for everyone involved

Derbyshire marketing firm Poppy PR, got to experience firsthand a day in the life of a volunteer on the When You Wish Upon a Star journey to Lapland

- TINA CLOUGH of

OVER the past few months, I've found myself completely swept into the world of When You Wish Upon A Star.

It started innocently enough, after our clients at ALB Group and ALB Giving chose the charity as their beneficiary this year.

What followed was a whirlwind that none of us expected.

The charity ball they hosted raised a staggering £151,000, with business leaders and celebrities alike bidding on everything from signed Carl Froch memorabilia to luxury experiences.

To this day, it remains the most successful charity ball the city has ever seen.

So what does £151,000 actually do? It makes wishes come true.

And if you're a little person with the world on your shoulders, there’s really only one wish that matters: to meet the big man himself in Lapland.

So off we went!

I've assisted the ALB team with PR for about eight years now, and this month our team at Poppy PR donated time to support the When You Wish UK team during their busiest period.

Still, nothing prepared me for the call that came just two weeks ago telling me that I'd been given the golden ticket - a seat on the charity's chartered Lapland flight.

We've never had a client charter a plane for charity before. I doubt we ever will again.

Chaos at home, magic ahead

The night before the trip, disaster struck our house in the form of a six-month-old pup and one defenceless Elf on the Shelf.

The dog did what dogs do best and chewed the elf's face clean off, leaving it looking like something straight out of a low-budget Christmas horror film.

We considered turning it into a valuable life lesson about what happens when you misbehave, but ultimately decided that might be a little traumatising.

So instead, we told our daughter that the elf had been summoned to Lapland for disciplinary action after his antics the night before - most notably tying up his co-elf with shoe laces. Probably for the best.