Organisers of July’s Tall Ships Races event have, this week, said goodbye to a friendly face from the event office – as Keith the bear makes his way to a new home.
The large teddy bear was won in the raffle at the RNLI Lerwick fundraising Ball event in April this year and has been a favourite fixture of the Tall Ships office ever since. Project Manager, Emma Miller, said “When I won the RNLI bear I thought he had a great maritime connection, so he came to live with us in the office during the event planning and was able to take trips on the Swan and NorthLink ferry to keep those crews company.”
The bear, originally with an RNLI branded tee-shirt had the Tall Ships Lerwick logo added to his outfit and was auctioned off over last weekend to raise funds for the Lerwick Lifeboat station.
Representatives from the local Lifeboat Station were delighted to receive a donation of £250 from Ashleigh Arthur as the winner of the online auction. Ashleigh and her partner, John Arthur collected Keith from the crew members on Tuesday afternoon.
Emma added “That the event can continue to provide additional happy benefits such as this is a great thing. We’re delighted to have been able to facilitate this donation to such a worthy cause and find a great home for Keith with Ashleigh and John.”