How Haiti has inspired our fundraisers

George Clooney has manned the phones, Jennifer Aniston has pledged $500,000, and Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis have vowed to record an intriguing version of I Put a Spell on You. But the rich and well-connected are not the only ones raising money for Haiti. Across Britain, thousands of people are organising bring-and-buy sales and coffee mornings, raves, play readings, yoga classes and Hats for Haiti dress-down days, in an outpouring of grassroots fundraising. One of the youngest and most successful campaigners is seven-year-old Charlie Simpson (pictured) , whose pledge to cycle at least seven times around his local park in south London has so far raised more than £165,000, including £5,000 from Simon Cowell. Cowell's own plan for a charity single has been matched by a number of other musical campaigns, including Song for Haiti, the brainchild of 10-year-old Emily McKim: the hope is to get children all over the country to join in a version of Michael Jackson's Heal the World, with £1 donated for every singer. In Oxford, Laura Shearing, who studied Haitian folksong for her masters degree, is gathering singers this weekend to record a version of the Haitian creole number Fey-O in St Peter's College Chapel, which will be sold as a download. Grime stars Wiley and Sway turned up at a Rave for Haiti benefit in London last Wednesday, raising more than £10,000. And the ­Belfast4Haiti campaign has had so many bands offering to play a benefit concert this Sunday, a second show is planned. Some even more unusual enterprises are afoot. Maureen Rolls spent yesterday evening offering "angel and animal ­communication and energy healing" in the village hall in Clearbrook, Devon, for £7.50 a throw. In Hampshire, Broadlands Lakes Fisheries has organised a 24-hour fishing match for 6 February. And bridge players Anna Gudge and Mark Newton have linked 90 British bridge clubs with others in Japan, Thailand, Dubai, Latvia and Singapore, for a series of simultaneous games this week – and have so far raised more than £5,000. Ingenious fundraisers of Britain – we salute you.