THOUSANDS of people in Hampshire will be wearing bright red noses in aid of Comic Relief today.

A fundraising frenzy has taken off across the country, which has seen people taking part in bake-offs to danceathons and parading in comical costumes to raise vital funds for Red Nose Day.

As the donations roll in, Comic Relief today joins forces with the Daily Echo for a new £50,000 Community Cash fund to support projects across the south coast.

Comic Relief Community Cash grants of £500 to £1,000 are available to small organisations in the south that are working to help better their communities.

Since Comic Relief began, it has changed the lives of more than 12 million people in need across the UK.

Over the last few months, the Echo has been catching up with charities which have previously benefited from the Comic Relief Community Cash grants including gender dysphoria Chrysalis, incest support charity CIS’ters, mental health organisation Mayfield Nurseries and Dwarf Sport Association.

Yesterday, 40 students from the University of Southampton began a 48-hour broadcast marathon via their radio station ‘Surge’.

Today, staff and students from Wildern School host their biggest Comic relief fundraising event with cake-making sessions, penalty shootouts, magic tricks and more.

Tomorrow, 21-year-old student Ben Metson from Winchester will host a musical charity event at The Railway Inn in Winchester at 8pm where he will launch his charity EP, a university project with Chandler’s Ford singer Kenya Johnson, for the first time. They will also be raffling various prizes on the night, including Mutiny Festival tickets.

All week, members of Faster Personal Training’s Boot Camp class at the Ageas Bowl have been wearing their pyjamas to raise money.

Comic Relief will air tonight on BBC One at 7pm, with a whole host of comic favourites including Sir Lenny Henry, Joe Lycett, Miranda Hart, Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan, Warwick Davis, Sally Phillips, Greg Davies, Jonathan Ross and French & Saunders presiding over a mammoth night of live comedy, sketches, music moments, fundraising films and much more on what promises to be a most unpredictable night of raucous horseplay.

Head of UK grants at Comic Relief, Gilly Green said: “The Comic Relief Community Cash initiative is extremely important to Comic Relief and enables us to help more than a thousand smaller projects all across the UK. We encourage any community group or project who are in need of some extra funding to apply for the grant through their local community foundation.”

Jakes Ferguson, chief executive of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Community Foundation, which will manage the fund on behalf of Comic Relief, said: “These small grants really do transform the fortunes of the local organisations they benefit. There are so many groups in the South which are a vital resource for the community and do a massive amount on very little money.”

As part of the show, Popstar Ed Sheeran sang on the street with the children of Liberia, which will also be aired on the show this evening.

To find out how to apply, pick up a copy of today's Daily Echo.