Where it began...

 

Where it began...

Where it all began. This photo is an important element of my bearmaking journey over the past thirty years. My connection with teddy bears has lasted my entire lifetime and long before I made my first teddy bear, I was a bear collector. It began with a love of Chiltern Hugmee teddy bears, the British manufacturer of the wonderful Hugmee teddy bear range, made in the UK from 1923 until 1967. My parents gave me a beautiful large Chiltern Hugmee for my first birthday in 1964, a very special big bear (third from right, centre row) who sat on my bed for many years... and the rest, as they say, is history!