The Bear Garden celebrated its 30th Birthday in 2022. We wanted to do something to mark this moment in our history and so we decided to increase our ongoing fundraising target to £30,000. We chose to continue raising funds for the brilliant charity War Child so as to help innocent children affected by conflict. This fits well with our line of business, which as most of you will know is teddy bears and soft toys!

We raised money throughout 2017, 2018 and 2019, with a pause during the Coronavirus pandemic. In 2022 we re-started our fundraising in earnest. We raise money from direct donations and also through the auction of special items on Ebay! We continue to fundraise!

Highlights of past fundraising have included:

1) In September 2017 Andrew and his wife Kate took part in the gruelling two day 105 mile Coast to Coast challenge across The Scottish Highlands. This involved running, cycling and kayaking for which they both trained very hard. It was a very serious challenge, especially for Andrew with his dodgy knees and back (and he is getting on a bit)!

2) One "surprise" Saturday in 2017 The Bear Garden again donated 20% of all our takings for the day (online and in store) to War Child. This took place on Saturday 17th June and raised £516.

3) Dance Party - Saturday 24th June 2017 - This featured a 6 hour DANCE-A-THON from Jen, who had been part of The Bear Garden team since 2001! She decided to raise some money towards the target by doing a sponsored 6 hour DANCE-A-THON at The Boileroom in Guildford on Saturday 24th June. Jen danced continuously 6 hours and everyone was welcome to join in to keep her company for the full six hours or maybe just six minutes! 7 year old Charlotte did a sponsored one hour dance as well! This raised £813.

Thanks for your help with our ongoing fundraising!

Andrew, Kate C-B, Kate T, Emma, Petrina, Julie, Charlotte & Holly x

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and secure. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. It is an efficient way to donate and one that is endorsed by War Child. It saves them accounting time, as payments to charities are made in a sector leading fashion.