WE have looked back at memories of Comic Relief over the years across Cumbria.

Comic Relief started in 1985 after being founded by Richard Curtis and Jane Tewson to raise money for disadvantaged people across the world through comedy.

The first showing of Comic Relief, ‘The Night of Comic Relief’ and was televised on February 5, 1988.

It brought together popular figures from British comedy for a series of sketches, and it ended up raising £15 million for people in Africa and the UK.

Lenny Henry, Griff Rhys Jones and Jonathan Ross hosted the first night which featured an episode of Spitting Image and a special episode of Blackadder, titled ‘The Cavalier Years’.

Over the course of its existence, Comic Relief has raised over £1 billion.

People from across Cumbria have joined in with the fundraising over the years, including some of its most well-known figures.

Carlisle’s very own Helen Skelton has appeared on TV screens around the country over the years, such as 2011 when she attempted a stomach-churning tight rope walk to raise money for Comic Relief.

The well-known children’s TV presenter crossed a distance of 150 metres, between the chimneys of Battersea Power Station, on a tight rope that was 66 meters above ground.

In 2013, she undertook her ‘Magnificent 7’ series of challenges that saw her take to the skies with the Red Arrows and perform two West End shows in one night.

Some memorable sketches and highlights from Comic Reliefs gone by include Ricky Gervais fake trip to Kenya in 2007, Alan Partridge and Peter Kay at the boxing gym in 2001, and Ali G meets Posh Spice and David Beckham in 2001.