Help for Heroes is a military charity that has been raising money for injured servicemen and women since it was founded in 2007. Many different methods of raising money have been undertaken, including selling souvenir charity items. The charity has been using a large teddy bear called ‘Hero’ as a mascot for many years and amongst the souvenirs offered for sale was a miniature version of this mascot:

The bear is dressed in a miniature shirt in Desert DPM print, the same as that being used by front line troops at the time of its production. The little shirt mirrors the army’s uniform shirt and has embroidered buttons and a faux rank slide with the initials H4H standing for Help for Heroes:

To reflect the tri-service nature of Help for Heroes’ Work, the tactical recognition flash on the bear’s uniform is made up of the Army’s red, RAF’s light Blue and RN’s dark blue colours:

A label attached to the bear’s ear shows that this is an official charity item sold to raise money:

This is certainly one of the odder items in my collection, however he is rather sweet and a reminder of the essential work forces charities do in raising money to support injured service personnel.