Ambassadors and high-profile supporters

The This Morning and BBC Radio 2 star has been a CAFOD ambassador for over 20 years and recently supported our Lent 2024 fundraising campaign with a video message direct from the This Morning studio thanking everyone for taking part.

Dermot has travelled to Sierra Leone, where he met women who had been sexually assaulted during the country’s civil war and former child soldiers undergoing rehabilitation. He has voiced numerous fundraising appeals, from emergencies to our Coronavirus Appeal, and has backed our work on climate change. Dermot and his father also won £32,000 on the celebrity version of ITV gameshow Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which they donated to our work.

Dermot said: “As a lifelong supporter I am proud to be able to use my public profile to highlight how CAFOD transforms people's lives. Seeing CAFOD posters of babies during the 1984 Ethiopian famine was when I first started thinking about what was happening in the world and what I could do to help.

“I took part in no end of Lent and Harvest fast days when I was at school, and it was really important for me to see for myself the work that the charity does on the ground in Sierra Leone. I think CAFOD does a heck of a job.”

The ITV News at Ten presenter and journalist has hosted our flagship Pope Paul VI Lecture, voiced some of our major fundraising films, and reported for ITV News at Ten on CAFOD and Caritas Lebanon’s work with Syrian refugee children.

To celebrate our 60th anniversary in 2022, Julie was on the panel of our ‘Leaders of the Future: Catholic Women in Public Life’ event, and in 2023 she chaired Every Second Counts, CAFOD’s emergency response initiative aiming to raise £5 million in 4 years.

Julie said: "I've been a CAFOD supporter ever since school - it is so lovely still to be involved all these years on, and to introduce my own children to its work too. CAFOD works in the places many of us can't reach: at the sharp end of people's need for support, food and shelter in some of the toughest places on earth. Its dedication is an inspiration - and its ability to educate and draw generations into supporting CAFOD's work is amazing. It's an honour to be an ambassador."

Alex Macqueen, BAFTA nominated actor and star of The Inbetweeners and The Thick of It, joined the CAFOD family in 2024.

During Lent in 2024, Alex found out about the support that we’re helping to give to Liberian fishermen who, thanks to the right tools, can now stay safe at sea and bring home food for their families. He also shared details of his favourite walk to work through St James's Park in London as a way to encourage others to get involved.

Alex said:

"As a new ambassador for CAFOD, I can’t wait to fly the flag for a charity that I’ve had a lifelong affection for.

"I learnt about the work of CAFOD as a school volunteer at my primary school and it had a profound impact on me. It was the thought of children in other countries, my own age, not able to go home for food that made me want to raise money, so I asked everyone in my class to bring in 50p - this is back in 1984! I was totally delighted to raise £5.40 for CAFOD and I’ve even kept the Royal Mail postal order, in a frame.

"Forty years later, I am proud to continue supporting CAFOD, especially when the need for their work, tackling poverty and injustice around the world, is more vital than ever."

Cook and television presenter Delia Smith CH CBE has spoken out about the plight of refugee families and urged people to donate to our Refugee Crisis Appeal after being moved by the gravity of the disaster.

She has backed fundraising appeals, from emergencies to fast days, written religious reflections for supporters, helped launch our 'Friday Suppers' cookbook which raised vital funds for our work, and kindly donates the royalties from her classic cookbook 'Delia’s Frugal Food' to us.

Delia said: “I’ve been a CAFOD supporter for well over 50 years. I know that anything I give goes directly to people in need because of the tremendous network the Church has throughout the world. I shall always try to do whatever I can to help.”

Adeniké is a singer-songwriter from London. She was a contestant on The Voice in 2020, under the mentorship of coach and musician will.i.am, where she wowed the coaches with a rendition of ‘Get Here’ by Oleta Adams. She successfully reached the semi-finals of the show and has since become the leading performer of the show 'Whitney - Queen of the Night' in theatres and arenas both nationally and internationally.

Adeniké is a passionate youth leader at her local parish and currently works at the Ministry of Justice in the Judicial Office.

Adeniké became an ambassador for CAFOD in 2024 and helped us express gratitude to everyone participating in the Big Lent Walk, highlighting the transformative power of walking as a time for reflection and prayer. We are very excited that Adeniké will run the marathon for us in 2025!

“Being born and brought up in the Catholic Church has been a huge part of my life and faith journey. I feel blessed to be a part of a wider family that I have grown to love and serve. Becoming an ambassador for CAFOD, a charity I have supported through schools and parishes from a young age, is an absolute honour and I look forward to serving the community with my voice and actions both nationally and internationally. I am super excited for the journey ahead, to inspire and to be inspired!”

Talia Dean is a singer-songwriter and former X Factor finalist, known for her captivating voice and huge stage presence.

She went solo in 2021 and released two singles, both going straight to number one on the iTunes blues chart. Originally from Hounslow, her latest single ‘You Made Your Bed’ was released in 2024 - a collaboration with Sir Brian May, her long-time friend and mentor.

In 2024 she became an ambassador and launched our first Big Pilgrimage. She has also lent her support to the Big Lent Walk and World Gifts, and visited her old primary school where she talked passionately about CAFOD’s work, singing hymns and leading pupils in prayer.

Talia said: “I was over the moon when I was asked to become an ambassador for CAFOD. I’ve been supporting the charity’s work since I was a child. I find it inspiring that they are helping people in some of the world's worst humanitarian crises driven by their love of God.”

Ooberfuse's quirky and upbeat songs have been lauded by Boy George and The Guardian, and they most recently collaborated with Snoop Dogg.

Social justice and inequality are strong themes in their music, and it is this use of music as well as their Catholic faith which motivated them to get involved with CAFOD’s work.

They have helped us with Lent campaigns and supported our Power To Be initiative by running a lyric-writing school workshop where students were encouraged to write their own lyrics on the importance of clean energy.

The band said: "The impact CAFOD has around the world is truly impressive: through CAFOD's interventions ordinary lives are transformed making the world we live in a better place. Through poverty alleviation projects, giving food security to millions, communities are invigorated and the lives of vulnerable people uplifted. To be involved in these noble endeavours in whatever shape or form is a truly humbling experience for us."

We are delighted to welcome our newest ambassador, Sue Smith, a former English football legend.

As a Lioness, Sue earned 93 caps between 1995 and 2012 and represented England in multiple UEFA Women's Championships and the FIFA Women's World Cup. She played for several clubs during her career, including Leeds United, Doncaster Belles and Tranmere Rovers.

Since retiring from professional football, Sue has become a regular pundit and commentator, offering her insights and analysis on Sky Sports and BBC Sport, and earning herself a new generation of younger gaming fans as an EA Sports FC 25 commentator.

Sue said: “Ever since school, CAFOD has played an important part in my life and my mum has been a dedicated CAFOD volunteer for the last 15 years. I couldn’t be prouder to be CAFOD’s newest ambassador”.

Every Christmas, Children’s Laureate and award-winning screenwriter and author Frank Cottrell-Boyce joins other fundraisers at CAFOD’s Liverpool Fun Run for some festive fun which has become a firm part of his family’s Christmas tradition. In December 2024, CAFOD celebrated 40 years of the fun run in Liverpool.

Frank has been a huge supporter of CAFOD’s work for many years and supported our 2024 Lent Appeal encouraging people to give what they could, emphasising the importance of CAFOD’s work in the face of a “world [that] is more unequal and unstable than ever. CAFOD has deep roots in its communities, so you know the aid it delivers is appropriate, sensitive and sustainable”.

Giuseppe won the 12th series of the Great British Bake Off in 2021 and this sparked off an ambition to share his family's gastronomic knowledge far and wide.

In 2022 he published his first book, 'Giuseppe’s Italian Bakes', which went on to become the fastest selling new release on Amazon. We were delighted that Guiseppe joined us for an inspiring webinar to talk all things baking and family traditions, as well as his journey from engineering to baking, and has supported our World Gifts appeals.

Adam Partridge is one of the UK’s best-known antiques and fine art personalities - and a familiar face on TV, having appeared on Flog It!, Bargain Hunt, Cash in the Attic, Dickinson’s Real Deal and Homes Under The Hammer.

He lives with his wife Melissa and their seven children on a smallholding in rural Cheshire, where they care for a menagerie of much-loved animals including horses, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, geese, rabbits, cats and dogs.

We were very grateful to Adam for holding a charity valuation event in aid of CAFOD in 2024 and supporting our World Gifts.

Bobby Seagull is a teacher, broadcaster and writer. After a career as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, Bobby switched trajectories and became a teacher, a passion that started with a scholarship to Eton College.

He writes regularly for the Financial Times and has published two books: The Monkman and Seagull Quiz Book and The Life-Changing Magic of Numbers. In 2023 he appeared on BBC Two's Pilgrimage and regularly appears on Sunday Morning Live and Good Morning Britain. Bobby kindly supported our 2024 Lent campaign and read at our Advent service.