Monday 20 April 2015

THIS OLD BEAR...

Much loved teddies from long ago... some of Cathy's friends talk about their favourite childhood soft toys. Naawww!


Sarah says:
This is me pushing my much loved Panda Ted in my buggy when I was about two years old. He was given to me when I was born and he's still going strong - and still my best friend. I am a writer and a book festival curator. I write books for children and often do school events, and Panda Ted sometimes comes with me to talk to younger children - he likes getting out and about! I'm forty-four now and he's older than me. I love him because he's strong, silent and always listens... and he has a very wise face. And he squeaks!
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Mark says:
This is 'Sailor Bill' and he's about all that is left from my sixties childhood. We have been through many scrapes together and he has never let me down - he's a tough old dog and loyal to the end. He once had his nose bitten off in a vicious street fight - a gang of army dogs had tried to knock the stuffing out of him. The doctors stitched up the wound with blue wool, and it still remains to this day. I'm now married  with three fairly grown up kids but Sailor Bill has never really settled down - you know what sailors are like, he probably has a girl in every port. I run my own gardening business, play guitar and write songs amongst other things; Sailor Bill doesn't get himself in quite as many scrapes these days. He's looking a little bedraggled and floppy - I think it might be his age.

Maggi says:
This is Papa... I couldn't say 'panda' when I was really small... and according to my mum, he was my first ever toy. Obviously I still have him, though he is somewhat battered and emaciated these days! He's about sixty-two years old, which is not bad for a panda! I'm now retired but used to be a countryside ranger and I'm still a wife, mother and occasional writer. If you think Papa is old, I still have my mum's old teddy - he's small and ginger and has only one eye, and he'll be ninety years old next year!

Michelle says:
This is Teddy... he never really had another name, but he was definitely a boy. My dad bought him for me the day I was born and he has been with me ever since. He stays in my bedroom - occasionally if I'm feeling low he comes downstairs, but most of the time he just sits on my bed. He's too big to carry around but he is a constant in my life and no matter what I'm doing or where I live, he'll always be with me. These says I am  community worker, but those childhood ties and values still matter to me and in some ways, Teddy is a reminder of that.

Cathy says:
Naaaww… love the old ted nostalgia! Do YOU have a fave soft toy from childhood? COMMENT BELOW to tell us more!



7 comments:

  1. I have a white Chad Valley teddy called Fluffy, that has one red ear and one green ear and red feet with green toes, that my granddad gave me when I was a baby. He's special because Fluffy is the only object I have left to remember my granddad by, as he died when I was 2. He's starting to fall apart now because of how much love he's gotten from me over the past nineteen years; his right arm hangs limply, and there's a hole in the back of his head that stuffing is starting to poke out of, and his red and green bowtie is beginning to come unstitched.

    His fur is also starting to fall out, so he isn't very fluffy anymore! So gave him one of my younger brother's jumpers from when he was a new-born baby (my brother will be 13 on Wednesday 22nd- he isn't that small anymore!) to wear to try and stop the fur from falling out.

    He's been everywhere with me, from being shoved in lockers on various RAF bases where I have been on camps with the air cadets, and being lost during a weekend camp when he got wedged down the back of the triple bunk beds on HMS Bristol, to coming on every Brownie camp with me and being a comfort to some of the girls when they've felt ill or forgotten their teddy.

    He's still a big comfort to me when I have my bad days emotionally, or just feel a little bit lost; even if that does mean that at times he gets thrown across the room!

    I also have a large Pikachu plush that I got when I was too small to wrap both of my arms around him, and I used to have a green hand-knitted teddy that lived in the car that was called Car-Ted.

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  2. My sister has Croccy, a toy crocodile that she was given as a baby (I guess bears were too mainstream for her?) and my brother has Floppy, a white and brown dog with long floppy ears, hence the name. Mum made me throw Mr Rabbit in the bin though so I don't have my childhood toy anymore. Mr Rabbit was, unsurprisingly, a white rabbit with a green and white striped body and a little patch on his chest where he'd somehow been torn open and had to undergo surgery at the hands of Mum and her sewing kit. When I was 3, I had an operation on my eye and Mum had to make sure Mr Rabbit was in my arms before I came round from the anaesthetic or I would've had a complete meltdown. Apparently, I used to fall asleep sucking on his ears. It stopped me sucking my thumb though! But he's gone. Mum made me throw him in the bin when I was 5. I still cried over it when I was 8. But I'm good now. I have Pusheen. I've only had her for less than a year but she's my favourite stuffed toy. I carry her everywhere with me - college, shopping, even my first date with my ex (surprisingly, she's not my ex because I carry a stuffed toy around with me!). It's not how long you own a toy for that makes them special, it's how much you love them and all the memories you share. Wasn't that the message of The Velveteen Rabbit? The most loved toys are the ones that become real.

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    1. Stop it Ms Blue, you will have me crying! <3 the Velveteen Rabbit! xxx

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  3. I have a toy dalmatian called Spotty Dog (I was so imaginative!) which I got when I was 3 on a trip to America - we went to a Build-a-Bear while we were there (this was before they came to the UK) and ever since I have rarely spent a night without her, even though I'm 16! Until recently I even celebrated her "birthday" each year! :D

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  4. i had a really cute yellow teddy called Teddy but when i was 4 i went on holiday and lost him. so i got a new small grey teddy in a white nightdress from Laline called Shayni.

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  5. i have a teddy bear(well, teddy pig) called piggy and I have had him since forever.ive lost him about 100 times,from the washing machine to Disneyland, but ive always found him in the end.but though im a teen I still cant sleep without him!!!but I don't mind.if I have a sleepover I just put himin my covers, and no one really notices.i guess everyone must have had a teddy and still do,so its not really something to be ashamed of.

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