Good Causes

Since 2011, the Teddy Bear Festival has been raising funds for groups and organizations as part of our ongoing commitment to support our local community.

Our featured Charity for 2023 is Norfolk Ambulance Rescue Service (NARS).

The Teddy Bear Festival Team was delighted to be able to donate £3000 to the Norfolk

Accident Rescue Service (NARS) as the main beneficiary of the 2023 festival. Two of the Teddy Team visited NARS headquarters in Dereham. Craig, one of the paramedics, explained that NARS attends call-outs to serious accidents and medical emergencies across Norfolk. Their fleet of vehicles is equipped with a wide variety of specialised lifesaving equipment and pain relief medication, which even some NHS ambulances do not carry. They also provide first aid training such as CPR techniques to community groups like the Chit Chat group, who had a visit from the NARS team earlier in the summer.

The NARS team are all volunteers, carrying out their duties in addition to their day jobs; many already work as NHS doctors and paramedics. However, NARS does not receive any government funding and their work relies entirely on voluntary donations. They are very grateful to receive the donation from the Teddy Bear Festival, so a huge thank you to all of you who contributed in any way this year. Any one of us in Norfolk may be in need of their help one day, so we are very pleased to be able to help such a worthwhile service.

£3000 NARS (Norfolk Accident Rescue Services)

£1000 Great Ellingham Recreation Centre

£1000 St James' Church

£500 St James Scout Group, hut upgrade project

£300 Friends of Great Ellingham School, replacement bbq

£500 Great Ellingham Cricket Club, replacement mower funding

£100 Village post box toppers

£200 Food bank

£150 Great Ellingham Preschool, replacement cushion squares

2022

Now that all the pennies have been counted, the Teddy Team is pleased to announce that it’s been a very successful year for fundraising.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed in any way, large or small, for your amazing generosity!

We are delighted to be able to make a donation of £3500 to the East Anglian Air Ambulance (the headline charity this year). The East Anglian Air Ambulance relies on the community to keeps its two helicopters flying.  The life-saving critical care their teams provide can be invaluable in rural locations such as ours.  This donation could fund a mission, making the difference to someone's life.

Additionally, we are pleased to allocate the following:

£1000 to St James’ Church

£500 to the Recreation Centre

£500 reserved to help the Pump if required

£200 to the Baptist Church

£200 to FOGES

£200 to Foodbank

£200 towards St James’ Lights & Electrical

A pledge of £750 to Pétanque club

The Teddy Team is keen to continue supporting village organisations and has decided that it would prefer to allocate to specific purposes or projects.  We don't know how the last few years have impacted upon these groups, so felt that it would be better to distribute according to need.  We have allowed £2000 for this - please do contact us (email hello@teddyfestival.org or through one of the team) and let us know how we can help.