DIY SOS Children in Need in Leeds: Nick Knowles, Rylan, Zoe Ball and Sara Cox join volunteers to build for Getaway Girls

Because it is that time of year again, when the annual charity campaign helps some of the most vulnerable young people.

With costs rising and households worrying this coming winter, though, persuading people to donate will perhaps be a harder sell this year. But if Nick has learned anything on DIY SOS, it’s that by and large, people in the UK are generous.

“It's a health check for the community. How is your community? Will people come out and help if they get the opportunity? The answer is yes. Wherever we go in the country, that's true. And then for the audience, it can be really reassuring to know that there are a lot of good people in our society who do want to help. The other great thing is we get the opportunity through the programme to shine a light on all of these volunteers and people who are selfless, who look after people in the community and help bring some attention to the various charities that they're running, that are supporting people, so that some funding can get to them.”

This year’s DIY SOS Children in Need Special is in Leeds and airs on Wednesday November 16.

Nick and his team, along with designer Gabrielle Blackman, are joined by traders and volunteers to complete a building in Seacroft for the Getaway Girls, which Children in Need has helped to fund since 2010.

The organisation, which has been operating for 35 years, helps more than 800 girls and young women aged 11 to 25 from across the city, delivering crucial support and providing activities such as residential weekends, music sessions and sport. The project strives to improve mental health, build confidence and self-esteem, and raise its young womens’ aspirations for the future. It used to operate from a terraced house in Harehills but because it kept growing, had to move to rented sites around the city – so DIY SOS stepped in.

This year’s build was created in partnership with Radio 2 for the first time. However, it was to coincide with Radio 2 Live in Leeds, which was cancelled due to the death of the Queen.

The building was still completed in 13 days and provides new offices, a crèche, activity spaces, a music and media studio, counselling rooms and a garden.

Presenters Zoe Ball, Jo Whiley, Sara Cox, DJ Spoony, Trevor Nelson, Rylan Clark-Neal and Scott Mills joined the crew.

How was it having them contribute?

“He (Rylan) turned up with tooth whitener and hair spray,” says Nick. “That's the comedy answer. The genuine answer is, I think they all arrived feeling slightly like they were coming to take part in something that they didn't necessarily feel they could be much help with and were there to do some TV stuff. But actually, when they were in amongst it, they were actually able to bring various skills. DJ Spoony, for example, had a look at our media room and said: ‘Actually, what you're building there’s not quite right and it would work better if it was this way around for the people that are going to do music and DJing and things like that’. So they were genuinely able to bring stuff to the party and actually, apart from anything else, to be in the middle of a DIY SOS is very different to watching it on TV because you get to feel that whole community vibe and that process and understand why it works. And so they were all quite emotionally moved by what they were involved with. It was lovely to see.”

The show also gives recognition to people like Flavia Docherty, CEO of Getaway Girls.

However, in the programme, she says: “It’s fantastic (people) giving up their time for free, especially at the moment, obviously people are struggling and I think it’s amazing they’re doing this. They don’t know Getaway Girls. We just want to say thank you.”

Nick’s late mother, Patricia, was from Wakefield and he notes the region’s reputation for rearing friendly, ‘salt of the earth’ types. “I’ve always enjoyed that. But it's also true that there are amazing people all over the country and we don't actually have to stand alone because if we all pull together we can look after each other through what is obviously going to be a difficult couple of years in front of us.”

“We’re a very generous country,” adds Nick, who says that not all volunteers could give money but could contribute materials or their skills.

He says that when the end product is revealed it is “unbelievably emotional”, not just for those who work for the charities but those who have contributed to the build.

“The question I get asked the most is: ‘How do you manage to hold it together at the end of the show when everybody else is emotional?’ The actual answer is, I don’t don’t. I get off camera when I'm emotional because, for me, that part of the show at the end is about the people who needed the thing and the people who came to do it. And I don't want the story to be about the presenters shedding a few years. I get out of the way and let them have their moment,” he says.

“Me and the crew or various members of the team will quite often stop at a service station when we drive away from these things and we have a bit of an emotional moment over in the corner of the car park.

“I have the best job in the world and long may it continue that we can build these facilities because long after DIY SOS is gone and everybody's forgotten who I am or what the programme was, the facility will continue to be looking after tens of thousands of people all over the country.”

The show airs on Wednesday, November 16 on BBC One at 9pm.