Involving clients in supporting charity was a bear necessity

By Chris Barlow, MHA MacIntyre Hudson

Being a sponsor of the Big Sleuth, we wanted to make sure that as many people as possible saw not just our wonderful Bear Hettie, but many of the other fantastic bears on display around the trail.

So, taking advantage of the summer holiday – and praying for some sunshine!, we invited our clients, along with their families, and our upstairs neighbours Squire Patton Boggs, to take part in an Afternoon Adventure, with a mini trail around the some of the Bears on the trail, followed by a showing of Paddington the Movie at the Everyman cinema in the Mailbox.

Alexandra Hatfield, the very talented artist behind our Hettie the Heritage Bear, was on hand to explain her design and the inspiration around Hettie as well as answer any other questions that people had.

Every intrepid explorer needs sustenance, so armed with marmalade sandwiches and some other treats we set off on our adventure. Winding our way slowly towards the Mailbox, we encountered a Silver Bear, a Gold Bear, a Tiger, a Ghostbuster, and even a Bear that gave hugs! The sheer variety of Bears on display and the amount of work that went into creating them wasn’t lost on any of us as we wandered around.

Arriving at the Mailbox, Paddington himself was waiting to greet everyone and after collecting some popcorn, we took our seats for the main feature. The rest of the afternoon the cinema was filled with smiles and laughter, as we followed Paddington on his journey from deepest darkest Peru to London to find a family.

Once the movie had finished people drifted away in small groups to find more Bears. The afternoon was a great success, and we’re grateful to our clients for giving up an afternoon of their time to come and enjoy something a little different with us.

The Big Sleuth is raising much needed funds for Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and we’re very proud to be a sponsor, and contribute to the raising of those funds, and the opportunity to involve our clients in that, was one we didn’t want to miss.

www.macintyrehudson.co.uk