Roz our first logo bear 2003
Our passion for collecting old bears began many years ago
– more than we care to remember!
As sisters, divided by a generation gap of 12 years, it was through our love of worn, vintage bears that we shared a mutual hobby and grew closer in our obsessive desire to rescue orphan teds.
As regular visitors to the website will know, my younger sister Julie has a full-time career, so it’s down to yours truly to keep the website regularly updated. But it also means I get to enjoy all the lovely old bears first hand.
Our website was launched in October 2003, when my hobby of restoring decrepit characters threatened to take over the house. It became necessary to start re-homing some – or my husband, Nigel, would have packed his bags! I never imagined the website would take over my life, but it’s become a full-time occupation, and I can’t think of a more rewarding job – if a sometimes crazy one!
Meeting and corresponding with fellow arctophiles around the world is a constant delight, and over the years I’ve made some wonderful friends. Enjoy your visit, and please bookmark us in your favourites.
Lucy and Ted
my childhood pals
Lucy is my beautiful 21″ Pedigree walker doll, and my parents gave her to me for Christmas when I was about seven years old. She was bought at Kendals department store in Manchester, and was wearing a royal blue dress with a red and white embroidered pinafore. I remember my older cousin, Chris, playing at hairdressing one day and snipping off one of Lucy’s lovely curls and throwing it out of my bedroom window! Mum found it and gave her a good telling off!
I eventually moved onto more grown up dolls including Tressy (her hair grows!) and Barbie and Ken. Poor Lucy was despatched to the loft and I forgot all about her. Years later, mum decided it was time to clear the loft of all my childhood toys and those of my sister. Imagine my delight to find Lucy in a dusty black bin bag. She was still intact, but her dress in shreds. I took her home and cleaned her up and she sits quietly on a stool in my office, while Ted sits on my dressing table.
Ted has been my lifelong companion from birth, and to this day I have no idea who made him. I played with him so much, his pads wore out and mum covered them with black velvet. She also removed his glass eyes for safety and sewed wool in their place. Even when I was all grown-up and left home for the first time to live in Manchester in 1972, Ted went with me…and also tagged along when I moved to London. Then I married and upped sticks to Yorkshire, and Ted came too. In recent years I found him an old pair of glass eyes and re-covered his pads in felt. We’re both getting on a bit now, but we’ll always be together.
