Shed for the TheraTeds

We are Bear in Mine'd in Camborne raising £1,000 to build a safe creative space in our Teddy Bear Museum.

The story of Great Pooh

      Once upon a time, there was a large teddy bear, three generations of the same family  (Stephen and his mother, Bunty Warrell puctured left)) and a dream….. 

     Over 40 years ago, an 8 year old girl inherited Great Pooh, a 6 foot teddy bear, who used to sit in the doorway of her grandparents' shop.        Victoria Edwards (the now 49 year old 'girl'), daughter of Stephen Warrell, is pictured left.                                   

Opening the Teddy Bear Museum in Camborne

      A lifetime ago this story began and, over 40 years later, has resulted in this new chapter; a teddy bear museum featuring lots more teddies acting relaxing memorable scenes run by a newly registered company 'TheraTeds (SMW) CIC.  Thanks to the help and support of family, and wonderful friends, the story of the humble teddy bear, over the last 100 years, can now be presented to you in an unique way. Set inside a lovely blacksmith's building on a historic rural mine site, the museum provides information about the bears in both English and traditional Cornish language, together with a woodland trail using real branches. 

Creating a safe space for the local community

   This is not the end of the story: We have called our museum 'Bear In Mine'd' because it has been created to help the well-being of the local community, and we now want to expand what we can offer.  We are qualified and experienced to offer one-to-one therapeutic art and music sessions but, as you may see in our video, we did not have a 'safe space' and, as we are in an historic building, we can't just build anything we want.  We needed something that would fit in the homely, nature-inspired atmosphere that we have here. A garden shed from a D.I.Y. store just wouldn't do!  We also needed something that was soundproofed, comfortable and sturdy.  

***Update***

A lovely local carpenter, Dan Philips and his mate Scott, came up to build our shed as they wanted us to have something in time for our official opening. They have done a lovely job, building our new 'old' cottage in the woods and have insulated and plasterboard-ed it inside to make it suitable for our purposes. They used recycled floorboards for the outside cladding over a sturdy new wood frame. Dan kept to his promise to be creative with his costings and materials, however, the price of materials is higher than ever before.

        We do hope you will be able to help and would appreciate any donations, no matter how small.  The inheritance pot we used to start this museum has run dry, and it'll be a while before we can make the profit we really need to make the company successful and able to help people for free on a regular basis.  Any extra funds will be used to equip the 'shed', making it comfortable and suitable to help with extra aids for disabled, dementia sufferers, adults and children. 

Please help us help the community more efficiently andbring the power of the teddy bear to everyone. Thank you.  With your help, everyone will have a hand-made 'TheraTed' (left) to take home with them.    

Victoria (left) with TV and radio celebrity, Gyles Brandreth, who is a fellow arctophile (bear lover) and loves the idea of the 'Bear In Mine'd'.....and (below) with the two other directors of TheraTeds (SMW) CIC, Hazel Wainwright and Charlotte Webb.  Left, some of the qualifications gained by Victoria over the last few years.....

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