DRESSING up was the order of the day as York pulled out all the stops for the BBC Children In Need appeal.

Across the city and beyond, people got up to all sorts of stunts to raise money for the country's less fortunate youngsters.

This year marks the 25th birthday of the annual televised appeal, which every year allocates millions of pounds in grants to help under-privileged and disadvantaged children in Britain.

Stealing the limelight in York's Coppergate yesterday was veteran fundraiser Butch, the Jack Russell.

Butch collected money all day, fetchingly dressed in a tuxedo, worn with a top hat and a little black cane.

In previous years, the four-legged charity whiz has dressed up as Superman, York's last Viking king, Eric Bloodaxe, and as a clown.

His owner, Ann Mitchell, told the Evening Press Butch "loves all the fuss and attention".

Meanwhile, some York children deliberately forgot to change out of their pyjamas.

The youngsters at Crescent Nursery, off Blossom Street, were sponsored to wear their bedtime gear all day.

Aged from three months to five years, each of the 29 children - and the eight staff members - brought in their favourite teddy bear for a special teddy bear and pyjama picnic, held indoors due to the cold snap.

At St Paul's CE Primary School, in Watson Road, pupils from Reception to Year Six donned their nightclothes and spent the day at school with their teddies and cuddly toys.

A school spokeswoman said: "The kids were all so excited to be wearing their pyjamas to school and they've raised £200 for Children In Need."

Kids found a use for all their mums' and dads' loose change at Carr Infants School, in Ostman Road, Acomb.

For Pile It On Pudsey, the three to seven-year-olds gathered as many 10p coins as they could and heaped them on top of an outline of the famous Children In Need mascot, raising £116.10.

In the city centre, 12 intrepid bank staff from HSBC mustered all their courage for a sponsored abseil down the front of the Parliament Street branch.

Organisers also laid on a tombola and the abseil was followed by an outdoor pizza-eating competition by bank managers, held in conjunction with Pizza Hut.

Commercial branch contact David Lockman said: "It seemed like a bad idea to hold the pizza competition before abseiling, in case anyone suffered sudden vertigo.

"The bank managers are very game.

"Last year, we had them in the stocks and people threw sponges at them."

Updated: 12:44 Saturday, November 20, 2004