Local dairy's bear bonanza

Arla Foods' Hatfield Peverel Dairy, joined in on the fun at Colchester Zoo recently and raised over £1,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Free goodies, from milkshakes to cow ponchos were also on offer at the Teddy Bear's picnic from the dairy on the day.

Hatfield Peverel dairy has worked closely with the Zoo for the past six years and always joins in with the Teddy Bear's picnic. It also sponsors the small mammal house at Colchester Zoo - it's a little-known fact that its furry inhabitants favourite tipple is milk!

The Teddy Bear's Picnic was the big highlight of the day as volunteers from Arla Foods dressed up in character costume, amusing children and teddies alike. As well as distributing Arla Foods goody bags, brimming with Arla products, there were also plenty of prizes to give away, supplied by the dairy, for the best-dressed teddies.

Teresa Mackenzie-Neve of Witham, who works for Arla Foods and organised the event said: "The day went really well, and we raised a lot of money for our chosen charity of the year, the MS Society. We have worked closely with the zoo for a long time, especially sponsoring the small mammal house which works well with Arla, seeing as though the animals in there love dairy products, especially yogurts!"

"Events like this do take a lot of organising, especially sorting the lorry full of products which we bring each year, but it is definitely worth it, the kids had a great time," she added.

Arla Foods UK plc is home to some of the UK’s leading dairy brands including Cravendale, Lurpak and Anchor. Processing approximately two billion litres of milk a year Arla continues to be one of the UK’s leading dairy companies and a supplier of fresh liquid milk and cream to the top seven retailers.

Over 2,500 daily deliveries are made directly to stores nationwide and Arla brands can be found across the dairy category. As well as the leader of the butter, spreads and margarine sector, and a major supplier of other added value products including flavoured milk and cheese, Arla continues to build working relationships with Arla Foods Milk Partnership, a unique group of dairy farmers, which supplies around 90 per cent of Arla's total milk requirements.

Behind this leading business is a team of circa 2,800 people across the UK located at our dairies, distribution centres and head office.