Introducing ...

It's time to catch up on the latest additions to the Norfolk Branch of Bears Unlimited. They didn't all arrive at once, and they all have very different previous lives, but the one thing they have in common is that they've all joined Bears Unlimited this year and have all settled in really well.

The first to be introduced is Victor of the lovely furry coat, who is sitting to the left of the picture. Victor was presented to our female minder as a leaving present when she changed jobs at the end of February. As our minder works for Victory Housing Trust there was only one name for this new bear, Victor. He might look a bit serious in the picture but he is a cheerful soul who does smile a lot - trust us.

Hot on the heels of Victor, came Peter who is proud to wear his yellow RNLI coat. You won't be surprised to hear he is a member of the Sheringham RNLI crew and, like Victor, he has very thick fur to keep him warm when out on the boat. Peter and Boating Bear Eddie, hit it off immediately and Peter has spend the summer helping Eddie out on his seal boats.

Bear number 3, in the middle, only arrived yesterday. He is Nick, the picnic bear and he arrived in the rather fine picnic hamper that the 3 guys are sitting on. Both Nick and the hamper were presents to us from two members of our extended family who got married yesterday. We allowed Nick a bit of a lie in this morning as he had such a big day yesterday, but he's been chattering non stop this afternoon - after all there are rather a lot of bears for him to meet. He's also been asking when he can go out with us on a picnic.

Welcome all 3 of you and we hope you'll soon join us in reporting lots of exciting Bears Unlimited adventures.

Love from all at Bears Unlimited xxx

A Double Dose of Yummy!

Our special surprise was cute, small (but bigger than us!) and furry. For almost the first time in our travelling career we had a fellow bear traveller, who wasn't a member of Bears Unlimited.

We first became aware of our new friend as we reached our lunch-time picnic spot and settled down in a shady spot with a glass of mint tea. We spotted some squirming in a rucksack and, a few moments later, out popped a bear. We were especially excited to find it was a female bear, as we do tend to be a bit short on female company.


Bear hugs and introductions followed, and we discovered our new companion was Helen Spencer bear. Seconds later we were all chatting happily as if we'd known each other for years. We discovered that compared to us old bears Helen was a spring chicken and she'd only joined her minders a year ago for their wedding.

It was a good job there was plenty of mint tea on tap, as talking nineteen to the dozen made us initially, very thirsty ...


... and before long, very hungry. It was a good job we had such an excellent cook who worked hard to prepare delicious picnics for us while we lounged in the sun.

One of his staples, which was to become a firm favourite, was the beautiful and delicious plates of salad that came to us looking almost too good to eat.


Needless to say we did eat them, and they were as good as they looked.

Back soon.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie and Helen xxx

Out and About on Boxing Day

We hope we're not about to confuse you but, after reporting on our New Year activities, we're now going back in time to Boxing Day.

We're never too bothered about the weather on Christmas Day as it's essentially an indoor day. However, we always hope for fine weather on Boxing Day, so we can get out for a traditional Boxing Day walk.

On this occasion when we stuck our noses outside after getting up, we sniffed some mild and dry air and knew we were in for a good walk. As we were in the Midlands, the Midlands branch were our guides. They know our likes very well and included a walk along the canal, taking in the Braunston Locks, that we'd boated through last Easter, at the start of the walk.


We rather liked this diddy, working boat and thought it's name 'mouse' rather appropriate. We wondered whether we should take it with us on future canal holidays so we could dig ourselves out if we ended up 'on the putty'.

After leaving the canal we headed across some fields, and when we came across some sprout plants we realised the Midlands branch's motive for taking us this route. Being sprout lovers, we'd eaten so many on Christmas Day that supplies had run out and we needed to pick some to replenish stocks for our Boxing Day meal.


As you can see from our picture we were blessed by blue skies and mild weather. There were a couple of moments when we even needed our sunglasses.

Thanks to this fine weather we were even able to enjoy a picnic in the open air. We've got a really challenging 'What's in My Lunchbox' picture for you to guess what we were about to tuck in to!


In fact we're going to be really cruel and leave you in suspense and not tell you the answer until we next post.

We bet you'll never guess.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

A Feast for the Ears

Yesterday we were very cultured bears. We went to hear Sheringham & Cromer Choral Society's performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion. We attended to support our female minder who was singing in it, but we do have an ear for fine music so we were more than happy to go.


With double choir and orchestra there must have been about 200 people performing so there wasn't a massive amount of room for the audience, especially as Bears Unlimited members occupied 5 rows. They managed to squeeze a lot of people in, however, and there was a good turn out.

The work was sung in full and lasts nearly 3 hours so it was necessary to make a start at 6.00 p.m. We therefore went prepared with sandwiches and picnic set. Out of respect for the work and the occasion, we decided to leave our Wherry supplies at home. Unfortunately the second interval had to be cancelled as to have it would have meant the orchestra would miss their train back to London. We therefore discretely munched while the performance was taking place, making sure we didn't eat any noisy food.

We thought it was a very fine performance although Chelmer thought it a shame that there were no drums as he was going to ask if he could have a go. A number of us have good singing voices so we're going to offer our services as soloists for the next concert.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx