You may remember that in November’s issue of the Focus, we featured an interview with writer and illustrator, Jackie Morris. In celebration of Jackie’s book release – About a Bear – we ran a competition to win a signed copy of Jackie Morris’s latest book and a needle felted bear made by Karen Hines of Celestine & the Hare, based in Monmouth.
We simply asked you to tell us something ‘About a Bear’. We’d like to thank everyone who entered the competition. Our winner is Julia Bohanna, who sent us this short anecdote about her treasured childhood bear.
Congratulations Julia! We will be sending the book and bear to you in the post… we hope you will give them a good home!
“I was a very sickly child and my father used to bring home boxes of junk from auctions, to cheer me up. In one of the boxes, right at the bottom, under the rusty tins of ancient toffees and broken china, there was a teddy bear.
He was a yellow, jointed but dirty little boy, with his beaded eyes missing. His face was sad. Immediately, I wanted to look after him. I cleaned him up and I gave him a lot of hugs, which all bears need. In bed so much, I used to create worlds from my blankets – mountains and valleys, where the blind bear could march, slide and sing as a wild creature. Our world.
It helped me get through illness but later, helped me to become a writer and also work in animal conservation. The blind bear now sits on my desk. I owe him a lot.”
Julia Bohanna
