Provincial Grand Lodge of Essex
Press Releases
Freemasons’ Charity Marks 25 Years This Week by Expanding TLC Teddy Support Across Essex Hospitals
A charity that has comforted hundreds of thousands of frightened children in Essex, is marking its 25th anniversary this week by reaching even more young patients across Essex, expanding its much-loved TLC Teddy scheme into paediatric wards for the very first time.
This milestone expansion will see Teddies for Loving Care (TLC Essex) introduced into nine paediatric wards across seven NHS hospitals, ensuring that children undergoing planned treatments, often without familiar comforts, receive the same reassurance long provided in Accident & Emergency departments.
The initiative was founded on 12 March 2001 by Essex Freemason Neil Beverley, with the first TLC Teddies donated to A&E departments across the county. The aim was simple but powerful: to calm fear, ease distress, and bring comfort in moments of uncertainty.
Reflecting on the milestone, founder Neil Beverley said,
“What began as a simple idea has now brought smiles to over four million children at a time when it mattered. Today is a very proud day, marking the 25th anniversary of the launch of the TLC Teddy Appeal.”
In Essex alone, more than 500,000 teddies have been given to children in hospital, each one a small but meaningful gesture of care at a time when it matters most. Across the world, the impact is even greater, with an estimated one child receiving a TLC Teddy every two and a half minutes.
TLC Chairman Paul Reeves added,
“Since we started TLC, we have helped over four million children at a time of great stress in their lives, something my fellow Freemasons & I, most of whom are parents and grandparents, are justifiably proud.”
The scheme’s success has seen it adopted across England and Wales and expanded internationally to Ireland, New Zealand, Fiji, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar and Spain. Most recently, in November 2025, the initiative was embraced by Scotland’s Grand Lodge, meaning TLC Teddies are now active across the whole of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Each teddy, available in six bright colours, serves a vital purpose. Used by doctors and nurses to comfort, distract and reassure, they help children cope with everything from minor injuries to complex procedures. For many, the teddy becomes more than a tool, it becomes a lasting companion tied to a moment of kindness during a difficult experience.
Until now, TLC Teddies have been a familiar sight in A&E departments. However, healthcare staff have increasingly highlighted a gap, children admitted for planned procedures on paediatric wards often arrive without a comfort item of their own.
Jerusha Murdoch-Kelly, Deputy Director of Nursing for Paediatrics and Neonates at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said,
“We would like to thank TLC for their support over the last 25 years, TLC bears bring comfort to children arriving in A&E feeling worried or upset, and they’re a wonderful distraction during difficult moments. We’re so grateful these donations are now reaching our children’s ward too, having an extra something to cuddle at night makes a big difference.”
Thanks to years of fundraising and the continued generosity of Freemasons across Essex, that gap is now being closed.
To mark its 25th anniversary this week, TLC Essex is delivering teddies to paediatric wards at:
- Basildon Hospital
- Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford
- Colchester Hospital
- Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow
- Queen’s Hospital, Romford
- Southend Hospital
- Whipps Cross Hospital, Leytonstone
Presentations are taking place across the county, with the Provincial Grand Master for Essex, Paul Tarrant, attending Colchester Hospital alongside members of the TLC Essex team, while parallel visits are being held at each participating hospital.
This latest expansion ensures that even more children, whether arriving in an emergency or preparing for planned treatment, will receive comfort, reassurance, and a reminder that they are not alone.
From a single idea in Essex to a worldwide initiative, TLC Teddies continue to prove that sometimes, the smallest gestures can make the biggest difference.
-ENDS-