Royal Victoria Place Shopping Centre in Tunbridge Wells teamed with up local children’s charity ellenor for Christmas to raise money for children and young people with life-threatening illnesses.

Tunbridge Wells Biggest Teddy Bear, aptly named ‘Teddy Selfie’ took up residence inside West Kent’s biggest shopping centre between 19th November and 5th January, with shoppers and their families posting images of themselves taken with the 3.5m high teddy using the hashtag #RVPTeddySelfie and donating money to the charity. Plus the five best selfies won a £50 RVP Gift Card.

Katie Gardner, Area Fundraiser, said, “We’ve been overwhelmed by the support people have shown us through the #RVPTeddySelfie campaign. If people would like to support our work to provide specialist hospice care to terminally ill children, they can visit www.ellenor.org”

Royal Victoria Place’s Teddy Selfie campaign raised nearly £3,000 for ellenor funding vital hospice home care to babies, children and young adults, aged 0-18 years across the Kent region.

Marc Burchett, Marketing Manager of Royal Victoria Place, commented: “Royal Victoria Place was delighted to have teamed up with ellenor at Christmas as part of our Teddy Selfie Activity which was all about having some festive fun and helping to raise money for a worthy local cause. We would like to thank everyone who donated money as due to their kind generosity we were able to raise nearly £3,000 to help provide expert care for babies, children, adults & families across Kent facing terminal illness. We are looking forward to working with ellenor throughout the coming year to enable them to continue the valuable work they do within our community.”

ellenor is the only charity in Kent that provides hospice care for people of all ages – babies, children and adults – and their families. As a pioneer in the field of hospice at home care, ellenor enables children in Kent to receive the very best care and support they need at home, so they can stay with their loved ones.  Specialist care such as chemotherapy and respite provided in the sanctuary of the family home enables them to focus on building precious memories in the limited time they have together.