The wonders of nature!

The wet and wild weather of the last few days had got us bears pondering about the power and awe of nature - yes, we don't spend all day thinking about Nutella! We do hope our Norfolk branch bears haven't been blown away on their recent trip up north! On the subject of nature we'd like to introduce our new member Kiwi, who is, oddly enough, a kiwi who became such a good friend that he emigrated to Suffolk when we recently returned from New Zealand. He showed us some interesting natural phenomena in NZ and here are a couple of examples:-



Here we are resting after a strenuous climb to the top of NZ's tallest tree, which was even taller than 100 Blue Bears. Kiwi wished he had the power of flight at this point!




And what about this for a strange sight! Clearly the work of aliens from another planet, we thought, or ancient dinosaur eggs from prehistoric times. But on closer examination and a quick chat with Kiwi, we learnt these weird rocks had once been embedded in the cliffs down which we had earlier scrambled. We will be sure to include these boulders in the NZ chapter of our Friendly Planet guide.

What goes ha ha ha plonk?

A: Isaiah laughing his head off!

Thankfully a rare sight as we Bears Unlimited bears are a pretty hardy breed but after surgery and some physio I'm glad to say I am fully recovered. I think the problem arose when we Suffolk Branch bears tried to be as energetic and adventurous as the Norfolk Branch in carrying out research for the Friendly Planet Guide chapter on New Zealand in November 2006. I accompanied my minders to a jurassic looking hot and steamy geyser at Rotorua and I think some sulphury stuff - or is that sulfurry stuff - must have loosened up my joints. I did enjoy wallowing in the mud before soaking my paws in the hot springs but perhaps it relaxed me a bit too much.



It wasn't long after before I was strapping ice skates onto my paws and skating on a real live glacier, which was really cool (!) Sorry the photo is a bit blurry - I think my minder was shivering as he took the piccie!

Greetings from Suffolk branch chairman

The Norfolk branch's minders have asked me to introduce myself so here goes. I'm Fred, a very laid back sort of bear as my photo below shows.



I'm one of the oldest members of the Suffolk branch and am a bit of a legal eagle as I studied law at Warwick Uni with my minder, so I deal with all the legal stuff involved in Bears Unlimited. However, that can be a bit dull so I like to escape to the coast with my friends and Panda the cat for lots of swimming and beachside bbqs - not at this time of year though! It's a bit too cold when you are short of fur like me! I set up a special bear tourist office for bears visiting Suffolk and make it my business to know all the best places a bear can visit in Suffolk. I was recently left in charge of everything when my minders and some of the younger bears went to New Zealand; they had a nice time but I didn't fancy the 24 hours in the hold of a plane without nutella sandwiches so that's why I stayed behind and had lots of parties instead with Panda and the rest of the gang.

Goodbye Christmas

We have been busy bears this weekend taking down the Christmas decorations and cards. We couldn't believe how many cards we'd received, it just proves that bears touch a lot of people' lives. We will of course be recycling them all. As per a Bears Unlimited tradition, our tree will stay up with lights on for a long while yet, as he is far too lovely to put out already.

As it was Epiphany yesterday Woolly and I popped over to the church to see if the wise men had arrived. We're talking about the Christmas crib of course! We were pleased to see they had made it and you can see for yourselves in today's photo.


Some of the guys are preparing for a New Year adventure so there should be lots of new pictures coming up soon.

Lots of love, Bris xxx

A Bear is for Life not just for Christmas

We at Bears Unlimited firmly believe that Christmas is the season of goodwill and a time to think of others who might be less fortunate than us. We therefore step up our visits to charity shops for bear welfare checks at Christmas time.

We split up into small groups so we can visit all the charity shops In Norwich, Ipswich and other local East Anglian towns who have bears for sale on their shelves. We have a chat with each one to check they are being well looked after and to help with any concerns or problems they have. We also give out our Bears Unlimited emergency assistance cards which provide a number they can phone 24 hours a day to get some help, advice or just to have a friendly chat with a sympathetic bear, should they require it.

In today's photo you can see Oscar at work in a Norwich Oxfam shop where he was pleased to find all the bears happy and relaxed.


It's the least we can do as we always remember just how lucky we Bears Unlimited bears are. Some of us did come to Bears Unlimited via a charity shop so we fully appreciate what it is like to face the time of uncertainty that comes when a bear arrives at a charity shop.

Love from us all xxx

Up the Creek with a Paddle

How was your New Years Day? We had a lovely paddle on the River Deben with some canoeing friends. It was so windy that it did literally blow the cobwebs away but at least the sun was shining to lift our spirits and make the hard paddle worthwhile. It was a pity that Blue Bear wasn't with us as he is so strong he would have powered through the wind and waves, but he had stayed at home to work on the fleet vehicles.

At one point the wind was so strong that we literally got blown out of the water as you can see in our photo - in case you were wondering where the water was!


We had to get our minders to get in the boat with us to provide some weight to keep us in the water. After their Christmas indulgences they had no problem providing us with the required ballast (hope we won't get told off for being cheeky!) We do admit that their assistance with the paddling was very welcome and it gave us the chance to have a look around and take in the beautiful river sights.

At the end of the paddle everyone got together for a pot luck lunch. We had never seen so much food and all of it delicious. Then it was time to return to Norfolk ready to go back to work today.

Lots of love Chelmer, Rocko and the gang xxx

Happy New Year Scottish Style

After spending Christmas with the Midlands branch we, much travelled bears, headed for Suffolk to see in the New Year with the Suffolk branch.

The evening got off to a very good start with a curry at the local curry house. We did get soggy fur walking there, but a nice hot curry soon warmed us up and brought back happy memories of our Indian holiday.

Back at the house we found Bears Unlimited only Scottish member, Hamish, ready for us in full Highland dress and tuning his bagpipes. Thanks to Hamish we had the New Year piped in for us and our Auld Lang Syne was apparently so spirited it made Hamish very proud to be a Scot.

After all his piping Hamish celebrated with a wee dram and being sociable bears we decided to join him.


A very Happy New year to all our friends and readers.

Love from all at Bears Unlimited especially Hamish xxx