A Preston charity set-up by the Freemasons have provided comfort to children in A&E by donating over 40,000 teddy bears.
The charity, Teddies for Loving Care (TLC), nationally was founded 21 years ago with the Preston branch set-up 11 years ago by the Freemasons.
The Preston Freemasons decided to work with Lancashire Teaching Hospitals to provide Royal Preston and Chorley & South Ribble hospitals with teddy bears to manage the childrens anxiety.
The charity have just celebrated reaching the milestone of donating 40,000 teddy bears. Staff at the hospital are able to give a distressed or anxious child one of the teddy bears and the children are able to take the teddy home when their operation or treatment is complete.
Doctors and Nursing Staff are able to gift a TLC Teddy to a distressed child and it is theirs to keep and take home when treatment has been completed.
Chris Jones, the Nurse in Charge at Royal Preston Hospital believes that the Teddy Bears are invaluable in their treatment of traumatised children and are really good at settling them down.
The Freemasons run the charity based on donations and sell a variety of gifts at a number of events.
More information is available on the TLC Website www.teddiesforlovingcare.org.uk
