Craven residents rose to the Children in Need challenge, coming up with some weird and wonderful ways of raising money for the BBC charity appeal.

Pupils and staff at Christ School CofE School in Skipton had a bad hair day, which raised £130.

Pictures of some of the best examples went up on a Wall of Fame poster at the school.

Headteacher Simone Bennett said: “We wanted to have some fun, but also raise money to help the children understand that even basic things like brushing your hair can be hard for some children, who can struggle to have simple needs met.”

Staff at the Orange mobile phone shop, on Sheep Street, adorned themselves with fancy dress costumes on Friday and Saturday to raise £110 for the charity.

Customers found themselves chatting and buying phones from staff who were dressed as the Mad Hatter, Robocop, Batman and other characters.

Staff member and organiser Georgie Riley said the shop also held a raffle, sweepstakes and sold homemade muffins.

The town’s Herriotts Hotel held a teddy bears picnic and raised more than £430.

Young visitors had the chance to pin a patch on Pudsey, eat special cakes and buy a “spotty” ice cream cone.

There was a Rehome the Teddy Bear auction, with bears donated by staff and hotel owner Michele Graham-Roe gave £2 to Children in Need for every bear donated.

Elsewhere in the district, customers at the Dalesman Café in Gargrave were served by owner Linda Hartell and her staff in fancy dress.

Last year, the café raised £200 and Linda was anticipating that collection jars on each table would raise a similar amount this year.

Customers included Irene and David Grimshaw, of Silsden.

“They’ve done really well and gone to a lot of trouble to do this,” said Irene.

Five-year-old Anna Calvert, from Cross Hills, raised £160 with a Pudsey coffee morning.

The event was supported by fellow pupils in year one at Kildwick Primary School, neighbours, her mum's work colleagues and Anna's family including her sister Lucy.

The 2012 total beat the £121 that Anna raised in 2011.