Gurkha Welfare Trust teddy bear auction back for second year
The bears raised over £4,000 for the Salisbury charity last time
The Salisbury-based Gurkha Welfare Trust (GWT) is running its second annual teddy bear auction to support Gurkha veterans in Nepal.
This year, 29 bears are up for auction, in hand crafted uniforms.
Last year’s auction featured 19 bears, which were donated to the Trust, and raised over £4,000.
Helen Souch, GWT’s community fundraising officer explained to us how the first auction came about:
“We were kindly donated some teddy bears that were completely bare by corporate partner last year, so I went out to our wonderful supporters and asked the crafty ones to dress them in an Nepali or Gurkha uniform.”
The bears feature a range of regimental uniforms from the Gurkha Bridgade, including the Royal Gurkha Rifles and Royal Gurkha Logistics, as well as some traditional Nepali dress, with some of the female bears donning a sari and the males wearing a Topi hat.
Helen praised the people who had dressed this year’s bears, saying: “It's a fantastic array of bears using crochet network, sewing you name it, they've got it covered.”
The GWT has been supporting veterans and people in Nepal since 1969, but over recent years, the focus has grown from just pension funding: “We also focus on providing medical aid to those people who can't get into the cities of Kathmandu and Pokhara,” says Helen, adding: “We also work with local communities to provide access to safe drinking water and education.”
“We go into the communities and we set up water projects and then create communities so that they are able to maintain their own water sources.”
The auction is already underway, ending on Monday 29th May 2023. You can bid on a bear here.