Hundreds of crocheted bears have set off on their journey from the North East to support Ukrainian children at a refugee camp.
Hero Bears for Refugee Children, a community group from North Shields, have today sent 200 crocheted bears on a Cross Country train down to Bristol, where they will then be sent over to a refugee camp in Zahony, Hungary.
The Bristol to Hungary leg of the trip is being done by Bristol-based organisation Teddy Busz, who have already sent aid to Hungary four times with items such as food, clothing and toys for families who have been forced to flee their homes.
Hero Bears for Refugee Children began in March 2022, when Ann Wright was upset that she couldn't do anything to help the people of Ukraine, after seeing the start of the Russian invasion on the news.
Ann said: "After seeing the Russian invasion on the TV I wanted to do something to help the Ukrainian people but I didn't know what to do. My daughter's favourite book growing up was 'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit', so I was inspired to do something to do with soft toys and teddy bears.
"We set up a Facebook page, and looked for people who would be willing to knit and crochet in and around the area of North Shields where we are based. I wasn't expecting the response, I have been overwhelmed completely. It is amazing how much work these amazing women can do in a short space of time.
"I was originally posting bears to Bristol but this became very expensive and time consuming, so I got in touch with David Fricker, who was able to set this up with Cross Country Trains. The whole thing brings people together and made us all into a community", she said.
The experiences of David Fricker and his organisation Teddy Busz (spelt this way due to the Ukrainian spelling of bus) however, are very different to this.
Just over a year ago, David was on holiday in Budapest when the Russian invasion started, and he witnesses the first wave of refugees coming into Hungary from Ukraine. It was seeing the devastation of the war first-hand that inspired David to start Teddy Busz.
David saw someone giving out teddy bears to children at the train station just over the border, and seeing the looks on the faces of them and their family cemented the idea in his head. He talked about the formation of Teddy Busz and how he began working with Ann.
"The idea of Teddy Busz was to take a bus full of teddy bears to Hungary, and within 10 days we had 5,000 teddys to deliver," he said. "Four of us took them over, along with food and clothes, and we ended up staying for three months trying to help as much as we could.
"It was amazing to see the look on people's faces as we delivered help to them, and we really appreciated the support of people like Ann who provided us with so much more to give.
"I first got into contact with Ann through social media, and what was a very small group grew into a lot of people doing little things that make a big difference. What was so special for us was children back here in the UK seeing the reactions of people receiving their teddy bears, it was a very emotional and beautiful thing to see."
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