Only 6 weeks into the new year and already we have had a huge boost to Katie’s fund thanks to Dee Hayward and Sharron Thomas’s hugely successful Cinderella on Saturday night!

If you weren’t lucky enough to be there, then you truly did miss a spectacular performance, nothing beats a bit of panto!! But don’t you worry, after numerous requests from very excited children and adults alike, we may well not have seen the last of them!!

Thanks to the brilliant and hilariously funny script written by Dee, everyone had a fantastic evening and even Katie managed to stay awake throughout the whole performance.

The hard work and dedication from all the cast stood out tremendously, from the performance itself, the arranging of the raffle and prizes and the event promotion, as almost 200 of the 220 available seats went and over £300 worth of raffle tickets were sold.

All in all, it was a fantastic evening and a huge success in the fundraising stakes, as over £2000 was raised as a result, bringing our campaign total to an amazing £4040 plus equipment worth £850.

Photographer Graham Birks attended and captured the evening in full, all shots can be viewed at www.birksphotography.com a fantastic collection, have a look!

Bear enjoying Chinese New Year Celebrations 2009

Bear’s trip to Singapore and Kuala Lumpar saw him celebrate Chinese New Year 2009 The Year of The Ox. He joined in with the street parades in Singapore and visited what was once classed as the worlds tallest building, The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpar aswell as relaxing in the beautiful gardens in KLCC Park.

Bear had a fabulous time and clocked up another 13,864 miles, taking his milage counter upto an amazing 46,024 miles!!!

View this trips photos here! or visit our photo page.

Bear had a fantastic christmas in Turkey, he wined, dined and partied the night away!

And by day he visited Turkey’s historical ancient ruins in Ephesus and Didyma, the Celcus Library, Fountain of Trajan and the Great Theatre of Ephesus are just a few of the fabulous sightseeing tours that Bear enjoyed on this trip thanks to Julie and her wonderful family. Dont forget to check out Bear’s photos!

Bear flew from London to Izmir and then onto Altinkum, clocking up an amazing 3650 miles bringing his total to a staggering 32,160 miles travelled so far!!

Bear is now preparing for his forthcoming trip to Kuala Lumpar and Singapore where he will join in with the Chinese New Year Celebrations - The Year of The Ox

Those of you that are local to me may remember a story in the Suffolk Free Press recently of a surprise panto performed for the children of St Josephs Primary School in Sudbury, but what was different about this panto was that all the characters where played by the parents themselves! View the article here!

The panto was such a success and enjoyed by everyone that the parents have teamed up again, to perform their version of Cinderella (as written by parent Dea Hayward aka Fairy Godmother) but this time all in the aid of charity….. and after hearing of our campaign for Katie, they have decided that all proceeds from this performance will go towards Katie’s fund! How fantastic is that? I have been overwhelmed by the support we have received since starting this campaign in September and I can not thank everyone enough!
 
Panto Parents presents Cinderella
The Prospect Theatre, Great Cornard, Sudbury
Saturday February 7th 2009 @ 7.30pm
Tickets : Adult £6 and Children £3
 
(A raffle will also take place on the night - prizes to be announced!)
 
If you would like tickets, you can contact Dea on 07883 774814 or email me at info@beararoundtheworld.com, this is going to be a fabulous fun night for all the family, I do hope you can come, this is fantastic for Katie’s fund and Katie will also be guest of honour on the night! - I hope to see you there!
In the meantime, we would like to wish you all a Happy New Year!

Katie and Bear would like you to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, thank you for sharing 2008 with us and for being part of Bear Around The World, we hope you will join us again in 2009!

Bear has set off to Turkey with Julie and her family to celebrate Christmas and New Year, he flew out from Gatwick on December 20th and landed in Izmir, Turkey and he will be staying in Altinkum for the festive season, and on December 29th he will be attending a very special persons 21st Birthday Party!

Have fun Bear, see you next year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year xxx

Bears latest adventure took him from London to Paris all the way on the Eurostar, this was Bears first train ride and he hopes it is not his last, he LOVED it! The seats were comfy, the views were picturesque and the company was superb, what more could a bear ask?

Bear had a fantastic time in Disneyland Paris with Mark and Steph, he enjoyed all the thrills that disneyland had to offer, from a night out in Disney Village, a ride on Dumbo, a chance meeting with a very late white rabbit, a grinning cheshire cat and was even scared silly on the Tower of Terror!

Bear and Mickey are becoming quite good friends it seems, after first meeting in California, they now bump into each other in Paris, what are the chances??  Poor Steph couldn’t get a word in once those two got chatting! So Bear and Mickey have agreed to meet up again in Florida next February!

Bears french trip gives him another 589 miles bringing his total to 28,510 miles travelled so far! Look out for Bears photos from this trip on the photo page or click here!

Bear is now preparing for his next trip, tomorrow he heads off to Turkey for Christmas and New Year! and what a lucky bear he is too!

Bear has again set off for France and this time he will be visiting Disneyland Paris, how exciting!!

Not only is he excited about Paris but Bear gets to travel Eurostar all the way to the park!

Bear is really looking forward to meeting French Mickey and all his other favourite disney friends, this will be a great short trip for Bear before he heads out to Turkey for Christmas and New Year!

See you in a few days Bear…. au revoir for now!