Best-dressed bears and decorative daisies drive charity’s festive fundraising

Cock of the Walk founder and owner Gill Long with some of the best-dressed bears

TAILOR-MADE teddies are taking off with charity supporters around the world to help raise money for a major medical facility which is close to completion at Castle Hill Hospital.

In addition to the best-dressed bears, customers of Cock of the Walk tailors in Hull have been placing festive orders for hand-made dogs and dinosaurs, with the amount raised for the Daisy Appeal now topping £1,000.

Appeal organisers are also selling Christmas cards and ceramic daisies locally, and online shoppers can support the Daisy Appeal with purchases from Amazon Smile, which pays a percentage to the charity.

The partnership between the Daisy Appeal and Cock of the Walk came about when one of the charity’s volunteers applied her sewing skills to crafting cuddly toys using off-cuts from the fine fabrics used by the shop in Grimston Street, Hull.

Gill Long, owner of Cock of the Walk, said: “The sewing skills are amazing! All we’re doing is providing the material and receiving the finished products to sell. We started with teddies and dogs and have recently added dinosaurs to the range.

“At just £25 each they have been flying out – literally in some cases because some of our contacts have ordered them to be send to Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Sweden and Australia.

“We tend to receive them in batches and we still have a few left from the latest delivery, but they do sell quickly so if anybody wants one for Christmas they’re leaving it late. I’m sure we’ll be getting more in the New Year.”

The ceramic daises, priced at £15 each, were created for the Daisy Appeal by Mark Teale at Wentworth Pottery, Aldbrough. With a 7cm diameter and a 40cm stem, they are part of a crop of 500 originally planted in the grounds of Beverley Minster and later relocated to the Queens Centre at Castle Hill Hospital.

The Christmas cards are available in a variety of shapes, sizes and designs at £2.50 per pack, with orders of two packs or more for £2 per pack. The Daisy Appeal has also set up a JustGiving page for people who would prefer to make a donation rather than send cards.

Clare Levy, Fundraiser at the Daisy Appeal, said: “This has been a very challenging year for all charities and we’re hopeful that our range of Christmas products will boost our funds as we head into a milestone year which will bring the opening of the new centre.

“The cuddly toys, ceramic daisies and Christmas cards are all unique to the Daisy Appeal but we’re aware that many people will be making a lot of their purchases online and we hope they will support us by selecting the Daisy Appeal as their charity on Amazon Smile, which sends us 0.5 per cent of the purchase price.”

The Daisy Appeal has a target of £8.2-million to complete a radiochemistry and cyclotron unit which will produce radioactive tracers at Castle Hill Hospital to improve accuracy and detection rates for cancer, heart disease and dementia in Hull, East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.

The new facility will provide the opportunity for patients to receive more personalised care leading to earlier diagnosis and giving them better treatment and quality of life.

Once the facility is fully functional patients from a wider geographical area will have access to its services. The charity aims to play a leading role in clinically relevant PET-CT research over the next two decades and to show that the technology can be brought to the individual patient, quickly and effectively.

To support the Daisy Appeal by ordering one of the cuddly toys please visit Cock of the Walk or email Claire Levy at claire@daisyappeal.org

To order Christmas cards and daisies please contact the Daisy Appeal Manager, Jane Kitson at jane@daisyappeal.org To make a Just Giving donation instead please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/daisyappealchristmaswishes

To choose Daisy Appeal as your Amazon charity visit www.smile.amazon.co.uk, and contact Claire if you experience problems signing up.

To find out more about the Daisy Appeal please visit www.daisyappeal.org