| CHhugs was conceived by a group of people brought together by the
wonders of the Internet! They all share a love of Ty Beanie Baby toys,
and we had the idea of collecting together and donating our spares to
Children’s Hospices around the British Isles to bring a smile to the
faces of long term and terminally sick children and their siblings.
People on the list all got involved - from as far apart as Norfolk and
Belfast and Jersey to Edinburgh. Of course just donating our spares
would be a finite supply of Beanies so the "Sign a Beanie’" campaign
was born! The idea being to approach celebrities and ask them to sign
a beanie - some to be donated as special gifts to the children, and
some to be auctioned to buy more beanies and perpetuate the whole idea.
(It is worth mentioning that CHhugs is totally non profit, with all
money raised going straight back into CHhugs.) The first donations were
made to the Malcolm Sergeant House in Prestwick and The East Anglian
Children’s Hospice Group at Quiddenham and Hope House Hospice in Wrexham.
As well as the beanies we buy with the auction money, we also have a
"Wish Box" which contains signed beanies which can be donated to children
who are special fans - for instance "Hannah" in Liverpool is a huge
Robbie Williams fan and we were delighted to be able to give her a "Fortune"
bear signed by Robbie complete with a signed photo. Jeffrey was "Gobsmacked"
when he received his "Cawley" and photo, autographed by his favourite
TV celebrity Charlie Dimmock! |
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The response has been fantastic with nearly 100% success, with everyone
saying what a brilliant idea it is! We have received support from people
like sports stars, including David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen, Prince
Naseem Hamed, Michael Owen and Sir Steven Redgrave. From pop stars like
Robbie Williams, Sir Cliff Richard, Andrea Bocelli, David Essex and
B*Witched. From TV shows like Eastenders, Animal Hospital, Coronation
Street and GMTV and stars and celebrities like Bob Hope, Ewan McGregor,
Joanna Lumley, Lenny Henry, Dawn French, Stephen Fry, Dame Judy Dench,
David Jason, Sir Norman Wisdom, Bob Hoskins, Sam Neil, Robin Williams,
J.K Rowling, and Sir Richard Branson to name but a few. We have even
had a Beanie signed by Prince Albert of Monaco and the Marquis of Bath!
Because Beanie Baby’s come in every shape and size and are all named,
we try and theme at least one beanie for each celebrity for instance
Bob Hope signed "Hope", The Spice Girls all signed their "Spice Girl"
beanies, Patsy Palmer signed "Freckles", Gianluca Vialli signed "Chelsea",
Uri Geller signed "Mystic", Ross Kemp "Grant", Kate Winslett signed
a "Titanic" bear, Patrick Moore signed Orion, Sam Neill signed "Sammy"
and Robbie Williams signed "Millennium"
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| The auctions have raised some fantastic amounts, and in three years
- not including 2005 - we have been able to donate £15,000 ($26,000)
and over 1000 Beanie toys to the 36 children's hospices we support all
over the UK.
If you would like to find out more about CHhugs you can visit our
web site at www.chhugs.co.uk There you can find out all
about CHhugs, and see more of the celebrities who have signed for
CHhugs! Also you can join an announcement list called CHhugsAuctions
at yahoogroups.com This group will keep you in touch with which beanies
are being auctioned, and when the auctions are running at eBay.
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