Talking teddy bear to promote Scots Gaelic

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The Gaelic teddy will repeat words for colours, shapes and numbers

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A teddy bear that repeats Gaelic words for colours, numbers and shapes is being made to help encourage greater use of the language.

The toy has been developed by Western Isles-based publisher Acair.

Aimed at children aged six months and over, the teddy is based on a bear that speaks Irish Gaelic.

Acair's Agnes Rennie said the new bear supported Gaelic organisation Bord na Gaidhlig's hopes of getting more youngsters to speak the language.

She told BBC Radio Scotland: "Bord na Gaidhlig has made it very clear over the last few months that they are really giving priority to working not just with pre-school children, but early stages.

"If you are able to engage with young children, and more importantly their parents, at that stage it can be hugely important in how they feel about the language and how they use the language from then on."

Respond to cuddles

The Gaelic teddy is not the Highlands and Islands first brush with interactive cuddly toys.

In 2007, there was a plan for a robot teddy that could interact with its owner and could alert medical staff to changes in a sick child's condition to be tested in the area.

Huggable, which was fitted with sensors, was being developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

The project had support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

It was to have technology installed that would allow the teddy to respond to cuddles and recognise its owner as they approached it.

The first designs were shown to nursery children in Avoch in the Black Isle in 2006.

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Reference :  BBC 

The Merrythought way of making a Teddy Bear.

The Merrythought company makes bears to order and keeps a huge stock of material ready to cater to every possible taste.

On the upper level of the foundry, below the glass ceiling, stand row upon row of rolls of brightly-coloured fabric.

Merrythought has been making teddy bears for decades

Merrythought has every imaginable shade of brown - coffees, caramels, golds and chocolates. Each piece of fabric has a different feel: there is very soft angora and shaggy mohair, velvets and synthetic pile.

Once the material has been chosen, it is taken down to Leslie Hunnisett, who cuts out the arms, legs and heads.

Leslie uses what look like a series of giant cookie-cutters to cut each shape: ''This is probably the 218th ear I've cut out today," she laughs.

The parts then go to the machinists, who sew them together so the teddies can start to take shape.

Once that is mastered, the limbs are sent over to Pauline Davies who puts the eyes on.

Health and safety rules mean teddy bear eyes are no longer made of glass, but Pauline has drawers and drawers of painted, plastic eyes of all sizes to choose from.

The teddies are then sent over to Sharon Taylor, who operates the huge, noisy stuffing machine.

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Sharon places the limbs over a pipe and operates a pedal to fill each saggy limb with stuffing. 

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"Creativity, resilience and relevance have all played their part in helping the toy industry”

Christine NichollsBritish Toy and Hobby Association

The result is baskets full of dismembered teddies with stuffing protruding out of their limbs. Luckily, they do not stay that way for long. Abi Summers quickly puts joints in each of the limbs and sews them up.

The bears now begin to look more complete and they go to Penny Reeves, who sews on their noses and mouths. The snouts are made from a tougher fabric and getting the needle through - and in the right place - can be difficult.

No-one wants a grumpy-looking teddy bear, so making sure the stitch falls in the right place is vital. "You sew down the middle first, then do one on the outside, then the other side and you keep building it up," says Penny.

Before the bears can be packaged up, they need to be groomed by Wendy Edwards. Penny trims away excess material from the eyes and brushes each teddy's fur ''so you can see the eyes and the smile".

With a flourish a ribbon is tied around the teddies neck and the Teddy is finished.

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Reference  BBC news 

British Bear now Olympic merchandise

The decline of British toy manufacturing does not seem to have harmed the UK toy industry as a whole as people still want toys. Plush toys including Teddies) grew at 39% in 2010 / 2011.

Behind this growth has been an advertising drive that heralds "Creativity, resilience and relevance" all playingtheir part in helping the toy industry to weather the past two years" .. " Now the toy industry 

The classic teddy bear has been given an Olympic twist

 needs to maintain its focus on producing toys with great play value at affordable prices,"  states Christine Nicolls [Chariman of the British Toy and Hobby Association]

Toys inspired by blockbuster films proved particularly popular in 2010, with characters from Toy Story 3 bringing in the most revenue.


The trend for fashionable soft toys has led many businesses to take advantage of the 2011 Royal Wedding and the 2012 Olympics.

Official London 2012 merchandise will contribute approximately £80m to the staging of the games and will no doubt generate huge amounts of publicity for the companies involved.

Merrythought is one of the businesses supplying 2012 products and Mr Holmes hopes it will mean "we can make Merrythought products available to a slightly wider and more discerning audience'' and keep the company going for another 80 years.

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Reference BBC news

Ooops - creation under way!

Maybe not quite like this end effect but a paper scrap book of Teddy Bear Adventures is now being created.

Things to add are photos of the Teddy Bears that are coming to the Teddy Bears Picnic, Clean up Australia day and other activities.  Also added are the recipes, games, knots, songs and other things that are done .

The friendly Teddy Bears love to be involved in all sorts of activities, outings, camps as well as going for hikes, walks, picnics and parties.  Go Disco and a get together.  Sometimes they have morning teas and BBQ's




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During the Black Saturday aftermarth these brave Teddies

During the 2009 Black Saturday Fire aftermath these brave teddies came out to play. The Guide unit had planned a Teddy Bears picnic to be occuring during the Fire time. No one could make it there on the day.

We photographed the bears coming, planned the food, sorted out the activites, worked out a root to take the teddy bears on and all this fell in a heap as others things were sorted out.

But the good news is that not one of these teddies was lost to the Fires.

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