Aycliffe Community group ACORN held their annual Teddy Bear’s Picnic and Funday on Monday 24th August.
The popular event attracted young and old from around the Great Aycliffe parish area clutching Teddy Bears and cuddly toys. Peals of laughter were heard across the Christopher walk green as children took rides on roundabouts or scaled the heights of the massive inflatable slide then slid down to the ground.
Sarah Picken and daughter Ellie transformed the fingernails of those present with assorted colours into works of art. Of course one of the first clients was ACORN Chairman Ken Robson who left with not one fingernail of the same colour accompanied by the chuckles of those attending.
Tombola proved to be a popular stall with a constant queue of people eager to purchase tickets in hope of winning one of the wonderful prizes donated by local people.
Megan Picken spent much of the day in selling books to raise money for the Macmillan nurses charity which is the chosen charity to benefit from the event.
Meanwhile we were treated to blasts of police siren as our local PCSO Chris Noble and Lauren Wray who has recently taken on the challenge of Police Neighbourhood watch coordinator demonstrated the controls of the police van and allowed the public to access the cell in the rear.
Meanwhile we had a visit from favourites Jet and Ben along with their charming handler Clair.
Thanks to the antics of Professor Nincompoop who entertained all with his balloon sculptures and side splitting sense of humour which had kids dancing and singing and also to Harry Potty who’s skills with face painting produced some memorable looks.
With faces transformed by chocolate fingers ice cream and burgers and perhaps feeling a little queasy from bouncy castles, flying chairs, slide and dancing, the smiles on little faces were the reward for all of those ACORN volunteers who turned out before 9am to prepare for the event and stayed for an hour afterwards to clear up and put away the gear.
The fact that we had such a fantastic fun filled day is testament to those people who give up their time to make it so and the generosity of those who sponsor us such as the awards for all team at the national lottery and Jillian’s cakes who donated miniature cupcakes which were a firm favourite with one and all.
Sincere thanks to all who came along or helped out on the day.
Ken Robson
on behalf of ACORN Residents Association
