Harrogate police pair take 150 Christmas teddies to children in hospitals

Harrogate Inspector, Paul Cording, and Knaresborough PCSO Matt Murphy raised more than £900 to buy police teddy bears for the children’s wards of Harrogate, Scarborough and York hospitals.

PCSO Murphy decided to launch the campaign with Insp. Cording’s help, when he was doing his Christmas shopping and decided to buy a police teddy for his nephew.

He said: “It was an idea I had when I was doing some Christmas shopping for my nephew.

“Think what must it be like to have to spend Christmas in hospital so it was just an idea to let them know the police are still at work on Christmas day and are thinking about them.”

Promoting the cause on Twitter, the donations have been flooding in and the policing pair have smashed their original target of £750.

The final figure has even left them with enough to donate a further £100 to each of the wards to spend on the children as they wish.

Inspector Paul Cording said: “It was a massively humbling experience because throughout the month of December you see all these people buying presents and food for parties and then you get these places and realise that a lot of people won’t have all that for Christmas.

“When we went to Scarborough there was a 15 month old toddler who had spent 12 months of his life so far in hospital.

“What we did was nothing really, it was minute. We want to say a huge thank you to all the members of the public who have been so generous.

“And the staff were amazing, looking after these children who were all there for various reasons and they were so helpful.

“We have been in a fortunate position where we can drop off 50 teddies at each of these hospitals."

The fundraising page is still open, if you would like to donate more click here.