BAKED beans, dancing girls and a taxi dressed as a yellow bear can only mean one thing it's time for Children in Need.

There are events going on all over town today and tonight to raise cash for the annual fundraising event.

A taxi is roaming the town dressed as Pudsey, the Children in Need yellow bear. Millennium Radio Cars is holding the 24 hour stint which started at 6am today and will go on until 6am on Saturday morning.

The taxi, which is actually a Peugeot 106, shouldn't be hard to spot around town as it is painted bright yellow with eyes and ears and a Pudsey 1 number plate. There will also be a familiar face behind the wheel as four drivers are dressing up as Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Elvis and Andy Pandy.

All fares from the taxi will be donated to Children in Need and the firm hope to raise between £700 and £1,000.

Manager John Gardener is dressing up as Robin Hood and said the idea came from two of his backroom staff: "It's a bit different and we hope we will raise lots of money.

"We've spent two days decorating the car and already had a lot of interest so it should be a great day.

"I want to say thank you to all our sponsors and a special thank you to the owner of Millennium, Ed Adams, who let us have the time to do it."

Other events include an Evening Advertiser dancing trio who will be performing at Asda after answering a challenge from Wiltshire Sound to dance to Kylie's hit Can't Get You Out of My Head.

The three dancing girls from our classified department will be on stage with Wiltshire Sound at Asda in West Swindon at about 7.30pm. The trio, who will be wearing black sparkly outfits, includes Gemma Bird, who said: "We copied some bits from Kylie's routine and made some of it up on our own.

"We're pretty confident and we are just going to do our best and have a great time."

The fundraising evening at Asda kicks off at 7pm and goes on until midnight so if you really want to get into party mood, go and see the Adver girls take on Wiltshire Sound.

Other guests include The Yokels, Tanwood dancers, the Kentwood Choir, Roly Gillard and Bakers Dozen, and boy band Essteem.

Earlier this week at Asda, Pudsey made an appearance to lead a group of children around the store to buy Christmas presents for their families and carers.

Events which have already taken place include travel and tourism students from Swindon College who went round town in fancy dress collecting money. One student sat in a paddling pool and charged £1 to pour the contents of a can of beans over her.

If you want to book the Pudsey car, call Millennium on Swindon 610000.