Transport for LondonPudsey parties at London Transport Museum
FRIDAY night with Pudsey and a chance to see London Transport Museum for the first time since its £22million revamp - how could we refuse?
Here's what happened when MetroTravel joined BBC London's Children in Need party, which thanked people who have raised money for disadvantaged children and young people across the UK.
Ten minutes before the party starts - the calm before the storm.
The TV crew is in position in the centre of the Museum with cameras and lighting set up along the walkway. The refreshments are prepared in the activity room. All that's missing is the guests.
Suddenly, there's the sound of laughter and children descend on the Museum waving their balloons. Some of them are wearing Pudsey ears while others are dressed in full costume.
There's just enough time for them to get drinks and nibbles before the floor manager calls for everyone's attention to run through procedures.
At 7.20pm the VIP guests arrive: Pudsey and Underground Ernie.
Five-year-old Isabel rushes over for a photo with Ernie while we nab her mum Maria to find out what fundraising they have been doing.
'I dressed up as a mobile phone and walked into the school playground,' Maria laughs. 'I'll do anything for charity. I just wanted to drum up business for the phone recycling scheme' (Fonebak donated £5 to Children in Need for every mobile phone they received).
Our chat is interrupted by rehearsals and then it's the big moment: the first broadcast at 7.40pm.
Everyone waves and cheers while presenter Mike Ramsden does his piece to camera.
Alongside one of the Museum's traffic lights is a man in chains who will later wriggle free to the delight of the crowd.
After our few minutes of TV fame, MetroTravel explores the ground floor of the Museum and finds 10-year-old George having a go on the Tube train simulator.
'He wanted to be a train driver when he was a toddler,' his mum Sue confides. So what have they been doing to raise money for Children in Need?
'His school had a non-uniform day which raised about £200,' Sue says, 'and he's been baking Pudsey shaped biscuits to sell with his sister Hannah'.
Away from the Museum's interactive displays the partygoers are being entertained by a juggling unicyclist.
Then it's time for more rehearsals before our second TV broadcast at 8.40pm.
Afterwards, we bump into a group of women dressed as pirates and Star Wars' Princess Leia. It turns out they are all teachers and their school has had a fancy dress day - everyone had to dress up as something beginning with 'P' (for Pudsey, of course).
They raised more than £250 for their efforts.
There's just one more live broadcast before the evening winds down with a jazz band playing in the corner of the Museum. Gradually the children leave, but Pudsey parties on into the night.
London Transport Museum opens to the public this Thursday, November 22.
