AN ONLINE streaming event to celebrate St David’s Day (March 1) has raised nearly £5,000 for a Welsh children’s charity, smashing its initial target of £3,000.

The event, held on the website Twitch and organised by Llandudno-based streamer Johnny Beard, was in aid of Tŷ Gobaith children’s hospice in Conwy, and its current total stands at £4,926.04.

It officially ran from 10am on March 1 until 2am the next morning, although one participant completed a 24-hour stream which finished at 7pm yesterday (March 2).

Johnny was one of 28 streamers taking part in the event, along with fellow North Wales representatives “Punch it Sue”, “SilverInDisguise” (both Conwy), “SparkStrikes, “EmrysHobo” (both Gwynedd) and “ThatHorrorGameGuy” (Wrexham).

Between all of them, they streamed themselves playing video games, music and other ventures, many of which celebrated the pride of Wales.

The fifth charity event that Johnny, who has been streaming for nearly five years, has taken part in, he was overwhelmed by the amount raised for Tŷ Gobaith, which supports families either caring for a terminally ill child, or whose child has died.

Johnny said: “The event was simply fantastic. We felt that a target of £3,000 may have been too ambitious, but not only to hit that, but smash it by more than 150 per cent, is simply mind-blowing.

“We all streamed a variety of different games, some commercially popular games such as the new Elden Ring, Fall Guys and Hunt Showdown.

“Some of us played music, either on our stream or playing, and celebrating the best of Welsh music through their music videos, and some of us played some obscure games such as Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion and Little Misfortune.

“One of our streamers (“ThatTourettesGamer”) raised £1,035.10 on his own, another streamer did a 12-hour stream - the longest they had done prior was about two-and-a-half hours and they raised £720 (“SilverInDisguise”).

“One of our streamers cosplayed as Negan from The Walking Dead (“Raging_Mags”); two of our streamers did their entire streams in the medium of Welsh (“EmrysHobo” and “YnChwarae”).

“The moment we hit £3,000 at about 7.50pm, with still many hours to go, was very emotional.”

Streamers’ individual fundraising pages are likely to remain open for the rest of the week. To add to Johnny’s total, go to: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dathlutwitchcymrujb.

For more on Tŷ Gobaith, visit: www.hopehouse.org.uk/ty-gobaith.