The kind-hearted young sisters have been leaving teddies around the area for new owners to adopt all summer – and they plan to continue
If you go down to Hull today, you’re sure of a big surprise. That’s because the Teddy Bears Picnic appears to be taking place all over the city, with cuddly toys cropping up everywhere from park swings and bus shelters to railings and benches.
And now we can reveal the identity of the (now not-so) secret gift bearers (pun intended) and the simple, yet heart-warming reason they started the teddy trail, in a thoughtful activity to spread joy this summer. “My daughters, Bonnie and Alice, have been quietly spreading a little magic every week over the summer, and I think it’s time people knew about it,” said proud mum Abi Davis.
Sisters Alice, 10, who goes to Bilton Primary School, and Bonnie, eight, who is at Dorchester Primary, have been buying a few soft toy bears and other plush animals every time they visit a charity shop. After giving them a bit of a brush and a clean, they then leave them around Sutton and Bransholme and Holderness Road, in places where they will easily be found.
Each bear is left with a little label attached, letting people know they’re free to take home and that they need to be adopted. And since then the kind-hearted siblings have been inundated with messages, updating them on the bears’ welfare as well as thanking them for raising a smile.
And it all started when they found a £5 note in their garden, as Abi, of Sutton Village, explained. She told us: “The girls found £5 in the garden, and decided that they wanted to do something to give back to the community, as we couldn’t be sure whether it had come from our house or had been left accidentally.
Get all the latest headlines sent straight to your inbox for free with our newsletter. You can stay up to date with all the breaking news and top stories as they happen in Hull and East Yorkshire by clicking this link .
“They’ve committed to continuing it all through the summer and beyond – or until the charity shops run out of bears! It’s an act that’s bringing smiles to strangers and helping people feel a bit more connected, and they’ve also been posted on the Bransholme Living Room Facebook page. We’ve also seen other bears popping up in the same places that Bonnie and Alice have left theirs, too.
“They have left them in Sutton, at the park and on benches, Bransholme North Point, including outside the library and at the rat at the Alf Marshall centre, and various places on Holderness Road, in railings and at several bus stops.”
Each bear is left with a message telling their new owner how they have been washed and brushed, and are looking for a nice warm home. Abi said: “We’ve since had some wonderful replies to the email address, and it’s been such a joy reading about where the bears end up.”
One adorable message to the email says: “Dear Alice and Bonnie. My name is Halle and I am seven years old. I have just found your soft toy in the park in Sutton on the rocking horse. I promise to look after it.”
While another says: “Hello Bonnie and Alice. I just wanted to let you know your bears have been adopted into our lovely care home for adults with learning disabilities and have made two of our people we support very happy indeed, your bears will be extremely loved and looked after, and we just wanted to say a huge thank you and to let you know what a kind and lovely thing to do.”
Abi continued: “It hasn’t been quite noticed enough to need to keep secret from family and friends, but the girls have had a few near misses where they’ve had to act very unsuspicious when people find them quickly and they’re still around. They love watching little ones find them, but have to very much whistle and walk away, so to speak, particularly when one family popped a bear in a trolley in front of us, chatting away about how they’d found it, or a large family at the park speculated out loud where it might have come from!
“But I think it’s such a gorgeous thing and I’d love to let people know to watch out for the bears. For me, I’m not at all surprised. Both of the girls are so different – Bonnie’s a chatty, wild soul, and Alice is more reserved, but both of them are so brilliantly generous in life.
“Bonnie’s last school report included a note from the head which spoke about how welcoming and kind she is. And Alice is old for her years – she instinctively knows how to help people, and has been so invested in making labels and organising the bears for little ones to enjoy. They’re wonderful girls and I feel very proud and lucky that they’ve been so invested in spreading some joy.”