The story of JD and
Tian as told by Jenny
I have a bear
story of my own which I thought you might like to hear - sorry it's
rather long!
About fifteen and
half years ago ( end of November) I went to the Bristol Cancer Help
Centre for a week to support a friend with leukaemia who did not want to
go on her own (at least that's why I thought I was going). I was heavily
involved as a volunteer therapist at a cancer support group and three of
the people I had been seeing for regular aromatherapy or reflexology
treatments had all died within the space of less than three weeks so I
was at a very low ebb; it felt as if the Centre glued me back together
that week. One of the things that helped me was their cuddle room as it
was called ( sadly when I was back at the centre last year which is now
in a different location and re-named Penny Brohn cancer care they no
longer have the cuddle room or any of its residents) which was presided
over by a wonderful bear called Cornwallis who was gracious enough to
allow a motley collection of cuddly beings to share this space with him.
One of them was a
large ( size of a big baby) very squidgy, black bear who did not appear
to have a name but did have a label round his neck which said " I am
from Blackburn and please feed me with mushy peas and chips to stop me
from feeling homesick" and it added it had been sent by John H to keep
Cornwallis company. I have never, before or since, met a bear that was
so cuddly and he seemed to nuzzle into my neck just exactly like a baby
does and he even had a very ample bum which was reminiscent of babies
bottoms in the days when they had terry nappies on them. There was magic
in those cuddles and they brought me back to life. When I got home (in
Northumberland at that time) I announced to my long-suffering husband
that I would like a teddy bear for Christmas, but of course not any
teddy bear - it had to be like my soul-mate from Bristol. To my
husband's great credit there was no demur and we proceeded to tramp the
toyshops of the North East in a fruitless quest for said bear, no easy
task less than a month from Christmas.
I refused to be
defeated and went off to my local library where they had telephone
directories for all over the country and found the one for Blackburn and
got the details of the local newspaper there, the Blackburn Citizen. I
proceeded to write a letter to the editor, giving the details as above
and asking if he would print the letter in the hope that John H would
please get in touch to let me know where I could get my very own bear. (
Unbeknownst to me at the time) that letter was printed in the paper on
Thursday 9th December. On the Friday afternoon I got a phone call from a
gentleman called Dave who said he had read my letter in the paper and he
had a stall on Blackburn market selling black teddy bears and was sure
this must be where John H had bought the original bear. He went on to
explain that he had contacted the editor to explain all this to him and
had asked for my contact details because he wanted to send me a bear.
I said whilst I
very much appreciated his offer I could not accept because it was my
belief that ideally bears choose the person and not the other way around
and I would therefore have to travel to Blackburn to be chosen. Ok so
when would I like to come? Well the only day I had free the following
week was Monday. Dave said unfortunately the market was closed on
Mondays but then paused and said to me "give me half an hour and I will
call you back." When he called back it was to explain that the editor
said he had never printed a letter which had provoked so much interest
and he had been contacted by literally dozens of people about it, and
between them Dave and the editor had managed to arrange for the market
to be opened especially for me to go and get my bear, that the paper
would be there to interview me and take photographs and they would then
take me and my husband out to lunch!
The forecast was
grim and my husband only came because he did not want me to drive all
that way on my own. Two of these bears decided they would like to live
with me and I bought several more as Xmas presents for near and dear,
and the pictures were on the front page of the following weeks Blackburn
Citizen. This resulted in loads more letters being sent in to the editor
for me including one from John H himself, all of which were sent on to
me and which I have kept. On the Tuesday night I took my bears to the
cancer support group and almost everyone said they would like one or two
or three. We ended up ordering 70 from Dave ( clever man eh!)! My bears
were christened JD and Tian but tend to be called "THE BOYS" and live in
our bedroom though have occasionally had a short holiday visiting people
who needed a cuddle more than I did.
It may be that
Evie Maya will seduce them away in the fullness of time but given their
size I think she could be a bit in awe of them until she is at least
five or six, hence the search for a Three impersonator. I am not averse
to trying eBay and in fact had already trawled through something like
2000 lots in my quest but seen nothing quite like Three. Since your
email I have tried putting Alresford into the EBay search but nothing at
all came back so can only think the American seal spotted by your son
has already found a new home. Interestingly Three's ident tab mentions
not only Alresford Crafts, Alresford, Hampshire but also USA licence
Nos MA236/P(?)A281" which suggests that perhaps they were made primarily
for export and maybe USA is where I need to look.
It has been a joy
to touch lives with you and Sir Sealy and I will certainly be in touch
again if and when I make any progress.
The Boys and I
send love back to you and yours.
.
It was the company in Arlesford, sadly now defunct, in which she was
interested. Unfortunately, due to the vagaries of using the internet and
filing Very Important Correspondence, her first letter is missing. We
hope this might be rectified in the not too distant future. To move on,
the result of this email correspondence has given us for the moment the
following story. Enjoy . . .