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05 Furzebrook | 05 Teddy Bears Picnic 2

Teddy Bears Picnic - 17 June 2005

Teddy Bears picnic 17th – 19th June 2005 – Witherington Farm

We arrived on Thursday evening to find a nice new bridge had been installed for us to get across to the field. Members will be pleased to know that it's wider & straight, with no bend at the end, unlike the old one.

50 units & 52 children came along to enjoy the beautiful weather & a great weekend.

Saturday morning kicked off with the workshop for the children in the gazebo. This soon became a hive of industry with colouring, sticking, painting & gluing & continued after lunch with the boat-making in readiness for the race. There was a good variety of boats made, all shapes & sizes, & when they were all lined up for the start of the race they made a spectacular picture.

Of course the "Big Kids" (adults) had to have their "go" at it as well, but to keep it fair they had to have their race later. For all the competitions & races there were lots of prizes, even the "Big Kids" weren’t left out.

The second highlight of the day was the Teddy Bears Picnic. This year the children were able to sit out on the grass & tuck into their picnic & make as much mess as they liked, especially with the favourite - jelly & ice-cream.

We thought that we would try something new this year to see what the response would be, we had a "Teddy Bears Disco". Shaun kindly offered to take on being the D.J. & the session went well, the children really enjoyed it, I didn't realise children could have so much energy left at the end of the day, so I think we can call it a success & tell Shaun to keep next June 16-18 free.

Next came the lighting up of the boats & floating them down the river followed by the communal BBQ at the gazebo. Towards the end of the evening an impromptu line-dancing session started up in the gazebo, with Shaun once again being the DJ & caller. With the large number of members coming along for the BBQ, & the music playing it gave a lovely atmosphere on which to end a perfect day.

The weekend ended with a grand gathering at flag-pole on Sunday morning. Nikki announced the winners of the quiz she ran over the week-end (& gave us the answers) & raised £6.50 for Chairman’s Charity. Marianne & Karina organised "Guess the name of the Bear" competition & they raised £14.60 also for Chairman’s Charity. Well-done girls & thank you.

As stewards we would like to say a big thank-you to all who made this special w/e for the children a great success, especially to Diane for organising & running the workshop Shaun for being our DJ, Kate, Jane & Kit for helping prepare the picnic see you all out on the field very soon from

Three Old, Tired, Grizzley Bears (aka Ray, Myra and Sandra)