Going Global

Dear readers, Midlands Branch here (just for a change) to report on a recent interesting venture that we've been pleased to be involved in.

It all started a few weeks ago when Pooh and I (Connie) were tidying the loft on a rainy day and found some rolls of material that were too good to be wasted. We wondered what we might do with it and a friend suggested that it could be used for the Teddies for Tragedies project. This sounded interesting, so we did a Google search to find out more. We soon discovered that Teddies for Tragedies are very special teddies who travel all over the world to work with children. Pooh and I thought this sounded very exciting and inspiring. There were details of a local contact on the internet, so we made gave him a ring to find out more.

A bear called Honey visited us shortly afterwards and told us he had volunteered for a mission in the new year, and thought he would be sent to a third world country. He then explained that there are no cosy bedrooms, or even cupboards, where he was likely to be placed, so he liked to take his own bivvy bag with him. He showed us one that had been made for him previously.


Our timing of meeting Honey was perfect, as he had recently heard about a lady in Rugby, called Lucy, who had persuaded her friends at the Sesame Centre to join her in a big bivvy bag making session. Honey had been over to try one or two of the first bags produced for size.


He said they were superb pieces of kit, and the finished bags were due to be handed over to his association on December 22nd. He was kind enough to ask us if we would like to go along to join in the fun.

We were really looking forward to this event, but sadly it fell victim to the snowy weather and had to be postponed due to several inches of snowfall. We were very disappointed but it was good to see Honey again when he came round with the news.


Honey has told us to be patient and he will try and involve us in another handover attempt soon.

We've given Honey our mobile number so he can contact us, wherever we happen to be.

Lots of love

Connie and Pooh xxx

A Very Merry Christmas

We temporarily leave the sunshine of Greece, to return you to a cold and snowy England, so we can wish all our readers a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

We hope we can put you in a suitably festive mood, with some of our recent pictures:

It was just last weekend that we walked our Christmas tree back from our village shops, and boy was he heavy - but then he is a rather prize specimen as you can see ...

We got him upright and stable in the lounge, and made sure that his top knot cleared the ceiling. Randolph and tooty bot then had the important job of giving Christmas tree a drink from their tummy/bottles ...

Many paws make light work, and it wasn't long before our tree was festooned with light and decorations ...

... when Bris, Gio & Olaf came back from a carol and Christingle service they were amazed at the transformation. What a wonderful sight! (but is there room for all the presents?)

The carolling trio brought back their Christingles to share with us all.  

These are no ordinary Christingles, they are hi-tec Christingles with glow stick instead of candles. It saves held breaths, wondering what small children are going to set fire to.

It has been great to have the Midlands branch arrive today (Polar has been re-united with his friends and minders) and we look forward to the arrival of the Suffolk branch tomorrow.

Have a very happy and peaceful Christmas. 

Lots of love, 

All at Bears Unlimited xxx 

The Wreck of the Panagiotis

Hi, George here to pick up the story, as when Eddie saw what was on the beach, he didn't want to go ashore exploring, and chose to stay on the boat talking to Dimitri.

This is why ...

... it was because there was a wrecked ship on the beach and, being a boat lover, Eddie finds wrecks very distressing.

Yorkie and I, however, were very excited at the thought of exploring, and the great thing about this wreck, was that there were no health and safety restrictions; you could go on it, in it and through it. There was no part out of bounds. We went everywhere seeing what was left of the original boat, which wasn't always a lot.

The ship we were exploring is the Panagiotis and she has been lying in Shipwreck bay since 1980, which explains her rather rusty appearance. The story of how she came to be wrecked is rather exciting. It's believed that she was smuggling cigarettes (some say for the Italian Mafia) and the Greek authorities had got wind of this and sent the Greek Navy out in pursuit. While under pursuit, she encountered stormy weather and ran aground, only to be abandoned by her crew. Over the years she was pushed up the beach by the elements to her present, well and truly beached, location.

It's a sad story for the ship but exploring her gave us a lot of pleasure. Have you spotted us taking in the view from the hawsepipe (technical term learnt from Eddie!).

Eddie will be back at the blog helm next time.

Lots of love George, Yorkie & Eddie xxx

Seal and Elephant Watching

As we sped along the coast, there were all sorts of interesting sights. When we were going really fast, some were a bit of  a blur, but we slowed down for the interesting ones. The best sight for me, Eddie, was a rare sighting of a monk seal that is occasionally spotted in the area. I think he must have made an appearance as he'd heard about my seal trips in Norfolk, and learned that I was particularly seal friendly.

George & Yorkie were fascinated by some of the unusual rock formations. In our next picture you'll see a sculpture of an elephant submerging his trunk in the water to get a long refreshing drink.

We also passed the ruins of a monastery and still more caves. Then the cliffs started to get really high. They were so tall that even avid climbers George & Yorkie felt they might be a challenge too far, although George did spend a lot of time thinking about it.

Our boat started to turn towards the bay George is looking at, and Dimitiri told us we would be stopping there to explore something, for which Zakynthos is famous, on the beach.

Find out what it was next time.

Love Eddie, George & Yorkie xxx

Chauffeured!

The morning after arriving in Zakynthos, we had a morning off. This was only time off from sailing, though, not from boating, so it was fine by me.

We all went off in a big speedboat with one of the local entrepreneurs - a very colourful character called Dimitri (front right) and he drove very fast! (He also owned the restaurant we'd eaten in the night before).

We went up the coast, staying quite close to the shore. This enabled us to take a good look at all the caves in the cliffs.

There were lots and lots of caves and some of them were big enough for us to drive into. Mind you, some of them didn't look big enough to take our boat, and it was a good job Dimitri knew both his boat and the local coast intimately, as we frequently had less than an inch of clearance between the boat and huge slabs of rock.

The water was so clear and still that it was able to reflect the light creating some lovely effects. Dimitri also pointed out the beautiful colours obtained from light reflecting off sponges on the sea bed ... as our next picture shows:

We marvelled at the wonderful sights and  - I never thought I'd say this - I appreciated not being at the helm and having to concentrate on the boat, as it gave me to freedom to look around and, along with George & Yorkie, drink in all the wonderful sights. 

More next time.

Lots of love, Eddie, George & Yorkie xxx

Double Punch

By the time our sail was changed, all the other boats in our flotilla - lead boat excepted - had departed for Zakynthos. It was going to be quite a long sail, so I was eager to set off as soon as we could. Secretly I was quite confident about catching up, even overtaking, some of the other boats, especially with my new sail. 

As we left the shelter of Cephalonia we waited for the extra knot of wind to arrive. Nothing happened, in fact the wind died completely. It was very strange: we were almost becalmed and having to switch on our engine, while over to our right we could see a boat heeling over in strong wind.  And then ... the wind arrived ... and it quickly became a very strong wind ... and help! ... we had rather more sail up than I would have liked.

The wind was gusting up to 20 knots and packing quite a punch, but I was pleased to see George & Yorkie were taking it all in their stride and relishing the speed through the water. I was pleased to have the wheel to hang on to, and my safety line. 

Not surprisingly we made good time and as we got closer to Zakynthos we came within the shelter of land and could all relax a bit. Once again we had a pleasant mooring and this time it wasn't us who was moored up alongside the ferry.

That night we had a flotilla punch party with lots of delicious nibbles, all beautifully prepared by our lead crew. I took the opportunity to get acquainted with our charming Kiwi hostie, Katie. As readers, who were with us at the time of the posts of our previous flotilla, should know, I do have a soft spot for hosties and like to have my photo taken with the them ...   

It was a lovely punch party and everyone was chatting and getting to know each other, as welll as enjoying the punch and nibbles. At the end we were still hungry enough to head for the local taverna.

Have you worked out the double punch?

Lots of love Eddie, George & Yorkie xxx