Teddy bear picnic at Sudbury's Tudor Primary School shows heart-warming support for Turkey earthquake appeal

A teddy bear picnic at a Suffolk school provided a heart-warming display of solidarity with earthquake victims in the Middle East, raising hundreds of pounds in support of their plight.

Pupils at Tudor Primary School in Sudbury were spurred into action by the devastating tremors that struck across southern Turkey and northern Syria earlier this month.

The disaster has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and caused billions of pounds in damage, with many residents of the region now left homeless.

Its impact has been felt on a personal level among the school community in Tudor Road, where a number of pupils come from Turkey or have family in the country who were directly affected.

The result was a whole school sponsored picnic, raising more than £600, which was presented to the Red Cross on Tuesday morning, to go towards the organisation’s emergency appeal for Turkey.

Liz Campbell, headteacher at Tudor Primary School, explained that the children had come forward with the idea of organising their own fundraiser, and she was overwhelmed by the response.

“Obviously, this was and is a very distressing time for our Turkish families and we felt for them hugely,” she told Suffolk News. “Some of their family had lost their home.

“On the Tuesday after the earthquake, I was quite keen to touch base with the pupils to check how their families were, and one of them asked if we could help to raise money.

“It was really led by the children. We decided on the teddy bear's picnic and the children wrote a letter home to all the parents. It was just lovely.

“We were overwhelmed by the generosity of parents, in terms of the amount they donated and the cakes they supplied.

“It was just a wonderful occasion. We have never raised so much in one afternoon. We are super proud of them, and they should be very proud of themselves.”