Making Rice Krispie buns isn't what Nadine Coyle usually does during a personal appearance, but the big-hearted Londonderry-born star and one-fifth of female supergroup Girls Aloud will be slaving away in the kitchen today, in her role as Ambassador for the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice.

“I got involved with the Children's Hospice a few years ago through friends of my mum and dad,” explains Nadine. “One of their family suffered from a terminal illness and had spent time in the Hospice.

“I became very interested, especially as I was aware how invaluable it had been to the whole family. Someone suggested going along for a look and I was so moved, I decided to help in any way I could.

“It's such a happy, positive place and I couldn't believe how beautiful it was and how much fun the kids seemed to be having.

“Being involved and seeing the kids and the staff makes me feel very humble and grateful. What they are doing is really important — giving families a rest and providing children with somewhere that they look forward to going.

“The last time I visited, we all sang and I taught the children the dance moves from Love Machine, which was great fun.

“Today, I'll be helping them make buns and put up decorations for the Christmas party tomorrow. And I'm very honoured to have been asked to place the star on top of the Christmas tree.

“I love doing things like this and my role as ambassador is very important to me. I've always loved children and when I was a young girl was always offering to baby-sit for family and friends.”

Born on June 15, 1985 in the Bogside area of Derry, Nadine Elizabeth Louise Coyle first made headline news in autumn 2001, when she appeared in the TV programme Irish Popstars. She lied about her age, claiming to be the required age of 18 when she was only 16, and, even though she won a place in the resulting band, Six, was disqualified and sent home as soon as her fib was discovered.

Her humiliation turned out to be a blessing in disguise though as Louis Walsh took her under his wing and persuaded her to give reality talent shows another shot, alerting her to a similar show in the UK the following year.

In November 2002, Nadine sailed through the auditions for ITV1's Popstars: The Rivals to become one-fifth of Girls Aloud, now one of the most successful girl groups ever, with record sales in excess of seven million in the UK alone and 20 consecutive Top 10 singles. Ironically, after only one album, Six are no more.

These days Nadine spends most of her time in LA, where she and her family (mum Lillian, dad Niall, sisters Charmaine, Rachel and their families relocated to America last year) run a bar/restaurant on California's Sunset Beach called Nadine's Irish Mist.

Not one to squander her Girls Aloud fortune, canny Nadine also owns a Mexican restaurant and another pub, O'Malley's in Florida.

She also has an enviable property portfolio which, along with the family's luxury home in Huntingdon Beach, Orange County, includes a home in London and rental properties in Ireland.

“I wouldn't describe myself as a shrewd businesswoman,” she insists. “I just like buying and doing up houses and then selling them on to buy bars and restaurants. Things just kind of worked out with Irish Mist. It was a good combination of people working together and a brilliant location.”

But she certainly isn't hands-on when it comes to pulling pints.

“I'm a disaster — when it first opened, I tried to pull a pint and forgot to take the cap off and gas shot everywhere,” she laughs.

As well as pursuing her dream of owning a chain of Irish bars, Nadine is also hard at work on her debut solo album, due out next year.

But she insists that, despite all five girls pursuing individual projects during a year-long break from the band, Girls Aloud have not split.

“There's no way we've split up,” she says adamantly.

“We never (split) we were all just so tired. We were all so young (Nicola and I were only 17) when the band started and we'd never had a break in seven years. It's been non-stop.

“We needed time off. We're all still in our 20s and each of us had other things we'd like to try, but it doesn't mean Girls Aloud have broken up — there's another tour planned and we're always in touch and supporting each other.”

What about all the media speculation about rivalry with Cheryl Cole, who recently released her own solo debut?

“Cheryl's my friend,” she says, sounding a little exasperated by what must now be a predictable question.

“We're both singers; we've both wanted to do our own stuff for a long time and it will completely different from each other.

“There's no rivalry. As soon as Cheryl's album came out, I rushed to buy it — she's my friend and I was like ? ‘Woo hoo, brilliant! My mate's got a record out’.

“My album is going to be really different from Girls Aloud stuff.

“I've been collaborating with brilliant people including Guy Chambers, who has worked with Robbie Williams and Kylie, and I've been able to experiment with different things and rearrange bass lines, strings and things like that, which I've never done before.

“I love the sound of live musical instruments, so there'll be a lot of that.”

Over the years, since she split with childhood sweetheart Neil McCafferty in 2004, speculative stories about Nadine's love life have regularly appeared in the tabloids, especially during a year-long relationship with hunky Desperate Housewives gardener, Jesse Metcalfe which began in 2006.

The couple's on/off affair finished in 2007 amid allegations that he cheated on her after a stint in rehab.

Nadine is now blissfully happy with former New York Giants player, Jason Bell, but marriage and children aren't yet on the cards.

“He's lovely and he's wild good,” she says of Jason.

“And although I adore children, I'm only 24 and what with the band, the album and everything ? maybe someday, if I'm lucky, I'd love to have kids. My sister has just had her fourth baby. The oldest is 13 and the youngest three months and I love them to bits and see them all the time, so I might as well have kids.”

Over the past few months, the paparazzi have taken quite an interest in the couple's romance, with pictures of them out and about regularly appearing in the gossip columns. “I actually live a very low-key life.

“Anything I go to that seems showbizzy, is work,” she replies when asked about constantly being ‘papped'.

“The photographers in America are very different to London. You wouldn't know they were there — they're like spies and hide behind stuff. When you catch them it's wild funny.

“In London, you can see them — I don't know which is worse — but what can you do apart from always have your lip gloss on when you leave the house,” she laughs.

Listening to her down-to-earth nattering, it's obvious that Nadine can't quite believe her own success and still considers herself very much a girl from Derry. She hasn't let fame and fortune go to her head and credits her family with keeping her feet on the ground.

“I know it's almost 10 years since I started doing this and it feels like six months,” she sighs. “Time has just flown. I'm going up to Derry to see my granny for tea while I'm here. The last time I saw her was when Girls Aloud played Belfast in April, but it feels like last week.

“I don't feel like I've changed at all.

“Having my family out in America is brilliant.

“I don't know what I would do without them. Because I moved to London when I was so young, I missed out on lots of things with my mum (like her doing my washing and tidying my room — only joking!’) and now I've got her right by my side, so it couldn't be better.”

How you can join Nadine and give your support to hospice

The Northern Ireland Children's Hospice cares for children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions and supports their families and those close to them.

The Lights to Remember Christmas Appeal offers families a way to remember loved ones at this time of the year by sponsoring a light on the Hospice Christmas tree at Somerton Road, Belfast.

The lights will be switched on next Thursday at 8pm and each light sponsored also secures funds to help hospice care for more patients and families in the coming year. Money raised locally goes directly toward adult and children’s services.

When the charity was first established 25 years ago, it had cared for 98 patients by the end of its first year — now it cares for over 3,000 annually.

For more information on services and the annual Lights to Remember Christmas Appeal, log on to: www.nihospicecare.com or tel: 9078 1836.