Since W.Bro Neil Beverley first dreamt up the idea of providing comfort teddies to children over 24 years ago, TLC Essex has proudly supplied all eight NHS Children's A&E Departments across the county, as well as five walk-in centres, with our special bears — helping young patients in frightening and unfamiliar situations.

But recently, we've been asked an important question:
Could we also provide teddies to children on paediatric wards — particularly those undergoing operations and procedures?

Until now, the honest answer has been no — not because we didn’t want to, but simply because our funding couldn't stretch any further.

That may be about to change.

Thanks to the exceptional generosity of Essex Freemasons over the past year — Lodges, Chapters, and Additional Orders alike — we now believe we might finally be in a position to say yes.

As a trial, today W.Bro Neil Beverley and I (with Big Ted in tow) had the pleasure of delivering two cartons of TLC Teddies (144 bears in total) to the Paediatric Ward at Queen’s Hospital, Romford. We were warmly welcomed by Senior Nurse Hannah Fridd and Matron Fiona Cooke, who were thrilled to receive the bears and eager to begin using them to support children through difficult hospital stays.

We’ll monitor how this trial goes — but with continued support, we hope this is just the beginning of our next chapter.

Let’s keep spreading smiles, one teddy at a time.