Earlier this year Joe Catterall of Combermere 605 Lodge, Cheshire, decided to raise money for Teddies for Loving Care having heard about the scheme through his Lodge.
After much deliberation and encouragement from fellow Freemason, Mike Ross, Joe settled on the idea to take on a sponsored walk around the Dips, New Brighton. Joe thought however that, as this was for TLC, he would do the walk in a full teddy bear suit.
Joe, supported by his wife Nikki who helped to guide him, chose to spread the walk over 9 days, walking 3 miles per day. Thus the daily appearance of ‘teddy going for a walk’ swiftly became popular with children who had great fun following the bear (whilst keeping a social distance of course!).
The walks were a wonderful way to not only to raise sponsorship from fellow Freemasons but also raise awareness of how Freemasons help the community.
The walks were great fun and the response has been amazing! Lots of people stopped to ask me what I was doing so it was a great opportunity to tell them all about TLC and the work of local Freemasons
Joe raised over £3,000 for Teddies for Loving Care and isn’t stopping there, apparently there are secret teddy-related plans afoot to raise even more money next year… we can’t wait!
