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Hundreds enjoy a beary cute picnic

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Hundreds of children and their teddy bears had a lovely time at the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens yesterday. 

They played games, ate food and painted their faces at the inaugural Teddy Bear Picnic. 

Manager of fundraising and events Chloe Morgan said it was incredible to see people come together and enjoy the gardens. 

“It was so good, after being shut for such a long time last year it was great to see families and children filling the Eucalyptus lawn while playing with the toys and just having an awesome time,” she said. 

“We had giant lawn games that we had hired from Chameleon Games over at Cessnock, we had the SES and Fire and Rescue come and do live demonstrations and we also had the Hunter Heroes come along. 

“So they came and did storytime and played games with the kids and also did face painting. 

“We also had our tours and the Australian Army Band came and performed for the day as well.”

The team had been planning the event since January after some people from the Defence Member Family Support service inspired the idea. 

The gardens have a partnership with the Australian Defence Force which allows defence personnel and their families free entry into the site. 

Chloe said that at one of their events last year – before the state went into lockdown – they passed on the idea so her team decided to bring it to life.

She added the pandemic has been a very challenging period for the not-for-profit organisation.  

“We were shut for quite a few months so it did affect us quite significantly as we are a not-for-profit and registered charity,” Chloe said.

“Not having that money come in was not great for us especially when we still had to maintain and look after the gardens.”

Moving forward, the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens team is hoping to welcome more people through their site.

“Every day we are open from 9am to 4pm and we offer guided tours,” Chloe said. 

“People can also explore the gardens at their own leisure and at the moment we run a lot of discover programs as part of the NSW Discover Vouchers scheme.

“So we have things like fungi night walks, wildlife tours and orchid tours.

“We also host weddings and group bookings.”

The charity is also on the hunt for more volunteers. 

“We’re always looking for more volunteers, from in the gardens, to event staff to cafe staff and our education team,” she said. 

Go to the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens website for more information.

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