In March 2001 the Teddies for Loving Care (TLC) Charity was initiated by WBro Ian Simpson in the Masonic Province of Essex. Its purpose is to provide teddy bears to Accident and Emergency units for the medical staff to give to children who are admitted to help alleviate the children's distress.

The Charity began its work in Essex in September 2001. Since then the initiative has been taken up by 36 of the 47 Provinces in England and Wales and by Districts overseas. To date well over 350,000 teddies have been distributed. To see a typical testimonial click here.

In 2003 Teddies for Loving Care was piloted in the Province of Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire by the late WBro John Stokes in association with Hinchingbrooke Hospital at Huntingdon. In this first year over 7,500 teddies were distributed there to sick children.

The scheme was so successful that in early 2004 it was expanded to include all the hospitals in the Province (co-ordinator in brackets.

Funding to provide the teddies at these hospitals was raised within Lodges in the Province and all Lodges donated. To date over 30,000 teddies had been distributed.

In 2005-2007, the Douglas Compton James Charitable Trust has kindly donated funds to finance the scheme in this Province.

In January, 2008, the scheme was extended to the Fire and Rescue Service when all 28 of Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue Services frontline fire engines, covering 22 stations from Brackley at one end of the county to Oundle at the other, now carry a stock of bears for fire crews to give to children they encounter in distress. From house fires to road traffic accidents, the fire crews will now have an extra string to their bows when helping young children deal with the trauma an incident brings.

The feedback from firefighters, parents, doctors, nurses and other clinical staff and, most importantly, the children themselves, continues to be most positive.