Two Left Minder Feet

As anyone who has seen Mary Poppins will know, chimney sweeping can be very dirty work. But as we've said in our previous posts, Blue Bear is a very careful and tidy worker. He put dust sheets all over the furniture and then, just to make sure, he taped polythene across the fire place, leaving only a slit for his brush and rods.


From his supervisor's vantage point on the mantelpiece, Chelmer looked for any gaps where any soot might escape!

All these precautions were sucessful, and after the sweeping was completed all we we were left with was a pile of soot in the bottom of the fireplace.


Monkey then leapt into action with his dustpan and brush and quickly filled a bucket with all the soot. All that was left was to tidy everything away and re-light the fire, but then DISASTER struck, a clumsy minder tripped over the bucket and the soot went everywhere!


Chelmer swiftly dived into action wielding the vacuum cleaner hose and, in a short time, you wouldn't have known that the accident had ever taken place.


We wasted no time clearing away the equipment and re-lighting the fire before settling down will a well-earned reward, a glass of Wherry.

Love Chelmer, Blue Bear and Monkey xxx

Chim Chiminey, Chim Chim Cher-ee

After the transformation of the Bear Cave, we really got bitten by the change bug and thought about spring cleaning and other improvements we could make.

First, our fireplace. Through the long cold winter we have been keeping warm by having a roaring log fire each night. The only problem is that after a long winter of daily log fires, the time comes when you need to sweep the chimney.

Having got into spring cleaning mood, we set about organising for the chimney to be swept.

Remember meeting the very agile Monkey last year (July) when he shinned up the trees we were felling? Well, because Monkey is such a good climber, he immediately volunteered to emulate Tom from the Water Babies, and go up the chimney with a dustpan and brush and sweep out all the soot.


However, the older members of the Norfolk Branch felt this was a bit risky and that he might get stuck.

At this point, Chelmer, with an eye to an action adventure, quickly suggested that he, instead of Monkey, should be the one to take on the task, as he is considerably smaller. The older bears worried yet again, this time that Chelmer might fall and injure himself.

Fortunately wiser heads prevailed and the company Health & Safety policy was wheeled out. After a board meeting, it was decided that Blue Bear should take charge and have Monkey and Chelmer assist.

Blue Bear, being a true professional, began by assembling all his tools, (a large pile of dust sheets, his brushes and a vacuum cleaner) and, with his two assistants primed for action, started the job.


As each brush disappeared up the chimney, Monkey would pass over another.


Chelmer's job was to be outside with a pair of binoculars and a Walkie talkie, prepared to shout 'STOP!' as soon as the brush came out of the chimney pot. He had to do this before the brush hit the top of the cowl that stops pigeons trying to BBQ themselves by coming down the chimney when the fire is buring.

With such teamwork and Blue Bears's leadership, the job was swiftly, cleanly and efficiently completed.