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FREE<br />
scarf<br />
worth £18<br />
*UK ONLY. you<br />
pay p&p<br />
Feel stronger & full of energy<br />
Your 15-minute Get Fit Plan… it’s so easy<br />
Britain’s No.1 fortnightly<br />
yours.co.uk<br />
ISSUE <strong>289</strong><br />
Fresh &<br />
healthy<br />
meals<br />
Phil Vickery’s low-cal<br />
& low-sugar recipes<br />
2o pages of<br />
expert advice<br />
✓ How to win<br />
competitions<br />
✓ Grow your<br />
own veg<br />
✓ Make money<br />
from your home<br />
Ver a’s back!<br />
Brenda Blethyn<br />
reveals her<br />
secret talent<br />
jan 16-29,<br />
2018 £1.55<br />
Together on film: Tom<br />
& Meryl chat to Yours<br />
Fashion<br />
bargains<br />
Supermarket<br />
savers…<br />
Plus cut your<br />
food bill<br />
from<br />
£10<br />
The good<br />
vitamin<br />
guide<br />
Which<br />
do you<br />
need?<br />
WIN a £5,000 cruise
COVER PIC: TREVOR LEIGHTON/WWW.TIMEINCUKCONTENT.COM<br />
Inside<br />
Real life<br />
9 Animal Magic<br />
12 ‘I ran across the Sahara desert’<br />
16 ‘I was lucky to survive’<br />
19 Gayle and Ravi: ‘We saved<br />
each other’<br />
20 Hollywood under the hammer!<br />
24 ‘Our life’s work with seals’<br />
26 ‘The world’s a better place<br />
with teddies’<br />
29 The Big Garden Birdwatch<br />
Star chat<br />
10 COVER Brenda Blethyn<br />
14 COVER Meryl Streep and Tom<br />
Hanks in The Post<br />
138 Janet Ellis chats to Yours<br />
Your best life now!<br />
32 COVER Supermarket sweep!<br />
34 Beauty: the tools of the trade<br />
36 COVER 15 minutes to great health:<br />
part 2 – get fit the easy way!<br />
41 COVER Are supplements worth it?<br />
44 Should I ask for antibiotics?<br />
Good to know<br />
58 Yours Retirement Services<br />
60 How to win at competitions<br />
63 Thinking of getting a lodger?<br />
67 COVER A New Year clear out!<br />
69 Your questions answered<br />
71 Watching the pennies<br />
73 Send for a Yours Guide<br />
Nostalgia<br />
52 Blast from the past:<br />
decorating disasters!<br />
54 ‘We got away from it all…’<br />
Leisure time<br />
81 COVER Diabetes-friendly<br />
recipes<br />
85 COVER Supermarket savers<br />
87 Recycle old woollens<br />
90 Crochet a pouffe!<br />
93 Winter evergreens<br />
95 48 hours in Richmond<br />
98 Yours Travel Club<br />
103 Out and about<br />
Your favourites<br />
49 Meeting Place<br />
57 Roy Hudd<br />
75 Friends of Yours<br />
105 COVER Free scarf<br />
worth £18<br />
115 COVER Puzzles to test you<br />
& prizes to win<br />
129 Short story<br />
137 Horoscopes<br />
this fortnight...<br />
£9,487<br />
OF PRIZES<br />
TO WIN<br />
36<br />
Get fit<br />
in 15<br />
minutes!<br />
How to<br />
competitions<br />
Supermarket<br />
fashions!<br />
60<br />
32<br />
New ways with<br />
old woollens!<br />
Welcome ...<br />
How are the New Year resolutions going? I hope<br />
you’re keeping up with our 15 Minutes to Great Health<br />
Plan. We’ve got part two in this issue – showing you<br />
how to get fit fast, with easy exercises that you can fit<br />
into just a few minutes a day. Turn to page 36 now.<br />
When it comes to cookery we get lots of letters<br />
requesting meals suitable for diabetics, so we asked<br />
TV chef Phil Vickery to share some of his favourite<br />
recipes from his new book. They’re all low-calorie and<br />
low-sugar and tasty – there are even a couple<br />
of puds too! (p81).<br />
We’ve got some great advice on how to succeed at<br />
competitions from a woman who’s won everything<br />
from holidays to cars (p60). Once you’ve read her tips<br />
why not try your hand at the Yours<br />
competitions? This issue there’s<br />
a chance to win a £5,000 cruise<br />
featuring the singing talents of Alfie<br />
Boe and Katherine Jenkins (p121).<br />
See you next issue.<br />
Keep in touch...<br />
We want to hear your news and views<br />
Write to<br />
Yours magazine,<br />
Media House,<br />
Peterborough Business Park,<br />
Peterborough<br />
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Email<br />
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WEBSITE<br />
Find us at<br />
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The right<br />
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Life lessons<br />
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How to find<br />
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For how to join<br />
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See page 126
Here’s how you can help the nature on<br />
your doorstep by joining in the RSPB’s<br />
Big Garden Birdwatch<br />
nature watch<br />
Watch the<br />
birdie<br />
By Katharine Wootton<br />
It’s such a lovely<br />
moment when you<br />
gaze out of the window,<br />
or go out into the<br />
garden, only to spot<br />
some unexpected feathered<br />
visitors making themselves<br />
at home in your garden.<br />
Now the RSPB are calling on<br />
us to make a note of these<br />
wonderful sightings for their<br />
annual Big Garden Birdwatch.<br />
Last year almost half a<br />
So what are<br />
we hoping to<br />
see this year?<br />
Last year’s birdwatch<br />
revealed some interesting<br />
results that will be<br />
fascinating to compare with<br />
this year. Caroline Offord,<br />
from the RSPB, says: “Last<br />
year was a bumper year<br />
for sightings of waxwings<br />
which flock to UK gardens in<br />
winter once every seven to<br />
eight years when the berry<br />
crop fails in their native<br />
Scandinavia.<br />
“Results showed that<br />
waxwings were seen in 11<br />
million-people took part in<br />
what is the world’s biggest<br />
wildlife survey.<br />
The idea is to choose a<br />
good place to watch from<br />
for an hour from January<br />
27-29. Pick a window that<br />
gives you the best view. If<br />
you haven’t got a garden<br />
then, if you can, pop out to<br />
a green space and join in<br />
there. The results will then<br />
help the RSPB work out<br />
how to best protect these<br />
birds for the future.<br />
times more gardens in 2017<br />
compared to the last few<br />
years. It was also a really<br />
good year for the robin, with<br />
average numbers last year at<br />
the highest level since 1986.<br />
“On the flip side, blue<br />
tits, great tits and coal tits,<br />
all had ten per cent fewer<br />
sightings last year compared<br />
to the year before, possibly<br />
as a result of the prolonged<br />
wet winter that affected<br />
the number of caterpillars<br />
available for tits to feed their<br />
young with. Whether 2018<br />
continues that downward<br />
trend or sees things improve<br />
we’ll have to wait and see.”<br />
n To take part in this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch text BIRD to<br />
70030 or call 0800 665 470 to order a free pack to your address,<br />
or visit www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch<br />
Blue tits and a great<br />
tit tucking into suetcoated<br />
raisin pellets<br />
Watch out for these characters<br />
Here are a few quirky characters you might want to keep<br />
a watch out for during the Big Garden Birdwatch…<br />
n Pied wagtail – a funny black and white bird with<br />
a jerky walk and constantly wagging tail, often seen<br />
dashing across lawns or car parks in search of food or<br />
loitering on rooftops.<br />
n Great spotted woodpecker – the most<br />
common British woodpecker with black<br />
and white feathers and a red patch on the<br />
back of his head. Unlike most birds who<br />
sing, this woodpecker drums loudly onto<br />
tree trunks at a rate of 40 times per second<br />
to establish his territory.<br />
n Jackdaw – the smallest of the crow family<br />
that appears all black but is a dark grey<br />
colour. They’re quick to pick up tricks so<br />
much so that Italian thieves once trained<br />
a tame jackdaw to steal money from cash<br />
machines.<br />
n Coal tit – has a grey back, white cheeks<br />
and a black bib and cap. They usually take<br />
food and hide it for later – called caching –<br />
so don’t be surprised if you find forgotten seeds<br />
dropped all over the place by them.<br />
n Woodpigeon – these waddle when they walk, giving<br />
the impression that they’re overweight but actually the<br />
weight of all their feathers combined is greater than the<br />
weight of their skeleton.<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
29<br />
pics: RSPB IMAGES
george at<br />
asda<br />
If you’re looking for<br />
new jeans and like<br />
a style with a bit of<br />
stretch then George<br />
at Asda is the place to<br />
go. Jeans start from<br />
just £10 and come in<br />
bootcut straight and<br />
super-skinny styles.<br />
SupermarKet<br />
Sweep<br />
Bag yourself a bargain while<br />
doing your weekly shop, with these<br />
amazing supermarket fashion finds<br />
nutmeg at<br />
moRrisoNS<br />
The newcomer of the bunch,<br />
Nutmeg at Morrisons offers cool<br />
and classic clothing that looks<br />
more expensive than its greatvalue<br />
prices. We’ve had a sneak<br />
peek at the Spring/Summer<br />
2018 range and can’t wait to get<br />
our hands on it!<br />
Lesley wears: Blouse, £16, 8-22 | embroidered jeans,<br />
£20, 8-22, both Nutmeg at Morrisons<br />
By Fashion Editor,<br />
Michelle Nightingale<br />
F&F at<br />
TESCO<br />
Lesley wears:<br />
Red knit, £16,<br />
6-22 | trousers,<br />
£18, 6-22<br />
| black court<br />
shoes, £16, 3-8,<br />
all F&F at Tesco<br />
the best of the rest!<br />
Great separates and<br />
accessories, plus brilliant<br />
sales, make F&F at Tesco<br />
well worth a rummage.<br />
Their knitwear is always<br />
fabulous and affordable too.<br />
Kerry wears:<br />
Jacquard print floral<br />
coat, £50, 6-24<br />
| white shirt, £16,<br />
8-22 | jeggings,<br />
£12.50, 8-22<br />
| block heels,<br />
£20, 3-7<br />
all Tu at<br />
Sainsbury’s<br />
Tu at<br />
Sainsbury’s<br />
Tu at Sainsbury’s<br />
has gained serious<br />
style points over the<br />
past year, with good<br />
quality items that<br />
are purse-friendly.<br />
For age-appropriate<br />
stylish buys, Tu wins<br />
our vote every time.<br />
Kerry wears:<br />
Tunic dress, £18, 8-22<br />
| black skinny jeans,<br />
£10, 8-28 | ankle<br />
boots, £15, 3-9, | faux<br />
leather tote bag, £18<br />
all George at Asda<br />
fitness<br />
wear<br />
£18<br />
8-22, Tu at<br />
Sainsbury’s<br />
Stockists: F&F at Tesco 0800 323 4050; George at Asda 0800 952 0101; Nutmeg at Morrisons 0345 611 6111; Tu at Sainsbury’s 0800 028 6658<br />
32 YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT 33<br />
Cullottes<br />
£10<br />
xs-xl, F&F<br />
at Tesco £14<br />
8-22, Nutmeg<br />
at Morrisons<br />
£16<br />
8-22,<br />
George<br />
at Asda<br />
£18<br />
George<br />
at Asda<br />
denim<br />
£18<br />
3-8, Tu at Sainsbury’s<br />
£18<br />
8-22, Nutmeg<br />
at Morrisons<br />
£20<br />
8-22, Tu at<br />
Sainsbury’s<br />
Unfortunately,<br />
at this time of<br />
year we cannot<br />
guarantee<br />
availability and<br />
prices of items<br />
featured on<br />
this page<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY RUTH JENKINSON;, STYLIST LINDSEY BAKER, HAIR AND MAKE-UP SARAH JANE GREEN<br />
PicS: shutterstock
good to know<br />
pics: shuTterstock, alamy stock photo, ruth jenkinson<br />
You might think it’s<br />
pure luck, but there<br />
are easy ways to<br />
raise your chance<br />
of winning<br />
By Lizzy Dening<br />
Imagine going on lavish<br />
holidays, owning<br />
a brand-new car or<br />
topping up your bank<br />
balance – for free. That’s<br />
the reality for competitions expert Di<br />
Coke from Brighton, who has dedicated<br />
time to her hobby for two decades and<br />
has the car, fridge, passport stamps and<br />
unforgettable memories to prove it!<br />
“I’ve had some great wins, including<br />
a VW Beetle, a honeymoon in Brazil<br />
and lots of unique experiences, such<br />
as my husband getting to play football<br />
in Milan with famous footballers,” says<br />
Di. “I see it as a hobby and it fits into<br />
my life well. I can enter competitions<br />
with the TV on or on my phone while<br />
walking. I spend about half an hour per<br />
day on it. To me, it’s a better use of my<br />
time than playing games.”<br />
While you might think that such<br />
pricey victories are the result of a<br />
life spent in front of a screen, ticking<br />
endless boxes, in fact Di believes that<br />
being smart about the competitions<br />
you choose mean just a few minutes of<br />
‘comping’ a day can soon add up to big<br />
wins. Here are her top tips.<br />
Consider getting<br />
a cheap pay-asyou-go<br />
phone for<br />
competitions,<br />
which will stop your<br />
personal mobile<br />
number being shared<br />
60<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
How to<br />
competitions!<br />
Meet our expert<br />
Di Coke (43) has been entering competitions for more than 20 years<br />
and her blog, https://superlucky.me is full of advice for would-be winners<br />
The basics<br />
First of all, it’s worth setting up an email<br />
account that’s purely for competitions –<br />
otherwise your personal inbox is likely<br />
to get swamped. You’ll need to check<br />
it fairly regularly in case you win, but<br />
it’ll stop emails from your family and<br />
friends getting lost. If competitions start to<br />
become a serious hobby, you might want<br />
to consider getting a cheap pay-as-yougo<br />
phone for competitions that involve<br />
giving a phone number. This will stop your<br />
personal mobile number being shared,<br />
although you will still need to answer calls<br />
on your ‘competition’ phone in case it’s<br />
someone telling you you’ve won!<br />
“My best advice is to enter competitions<br />
via brands you know and trust,” says Di.<br />
“If you’ve never heard of the brand, they<br />
may not be a reputable company.”<br />
Work harder<br />
Try photo, video and tiebreaker<br />
competitions to up your chances.<br />
“I don’t enter that many competitions<br />
Be choosy<br />
“Think about what you’d really like to win,<br />
then search specifically for those types<br />
of competitions,” says Di. So, whether<br />
you want vouchers or cash, holidays or<br />
experiences or a particular appliance<br />
you need replacing, search online using<br />
Google (use terms such as ‘win new car’)<br />
and make sure you follow appropriate<br />
brands on social media to stay alerted.<br />
in actual fact,” says Di, “but I choose<br />
ones that take me a bit longer to enter.<br />
I’d rather do ten where I have to do<br />
something like give a clever answer or<br />
send a photo than 100 that just involve<br />
filling in my details.<br />
“You could even get into the habit of<br />
keeping photos of your grandchildren<br />
and pets on your phone at specific<br />
events, eg summer holiday, Christmas,<br />
Hallowe’en, as these are likely subjects<br />
for photo competitions.”<br />
Where to look<br />
“There are competition websites that list<br />
lots of different giveaways, but it’s worth<br />
keeping in mind that everybody goes<br />
to these, so your chances are quite low,”<br />
says Di. “A much better place to look is<br />
Twitter, as many people don’t realise you<br />
can search for specific phrases. Search<br />
‘win family holiday’ and it will bring up<br />
more obscure competitions than you<br />
might not find otherwise.<br />
“You don’t need to be a regular<br />
Twitter user to take part, just set up an<br />
account that you use for competitions<br />
and nothing else if you want to. Any<br />
company running a competition these<br />
days will tweet about it.”<br />
n Read our easy guide to Twitter at<br />
www.yours.co.uk/leisure/technology<br />
Go local<br />
One way to dramatically increase<br />
your chances is by entering local<br />
competitions with a smaller pool<br />
of entrants. “Again, search Twitter<br />
using phrases such as ‘win tickets<br />
Birmingham’ or wherever you live,”<br />
says Di. “Also check local magazines<br />
and listen to your local radio station.<br />
Find and follow local businesses on<br />
social media too.”<br />
Stick at it<br />
“Of course, nothing’s guaranteed,” says<br />
Di, “but it doesn’t cost much or it can be<br />
a completely free hobby. Just don’t give<br />
up – keep trying.”<br />
n Many brands run competitions as a way<br />
of getting personal data. Be careful which<br />
boxes you tick or you may be inundated<br />
with marketing emails and phone calls.<br />
Savvy shopping<br />
“It’s actually really fun to go hunting for<br />
competitions,” says Di. “Look out in supermarkets for<br />
promotions. I’ve won a lot of prizes from products<br />
I’ve bought, because again there’s less competition<br />
if you need to buy something specific to enter.<br />
“There are also competitions which involve buying<br />
WIN! WIN! WIN!<br />
a certain product from a specific store and these aren’t always well advertised.<br />
If you need the product anyway but one brand has a competition available, then<br />
buy that one instead. People throw away loads of boxes with codes on without<br />
bothering to type them in online to enter. They think: ‘oh I won’t bother, I’ll never<br />
win,’ but it’s about changing your attitude to a more positive mindset.<br />
“The harder it is to enter a competition, the easier it is to win. Look on the<br />
supermarket websites for store-only promotions to find out what’s available.”<br />
Enter<br />
Yours magazine<br />
competitions and<br />
giveaways at<br />
www.yours.co.uk/<br />
comps<strong>289</strong><br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
61
Heart to<br />
heart<br />
Actress Brenda Blethyn –<br />
currently on the case as TV<br />
detective Vera – chats to Yours<br />
By Alison James<br />
It’s always a joy to chat<br />
to Brenda Blethyn<br />
over tea and biccies.<br />
She’s such a laugh and<br />
very much one of the<br />
girls. But what she’s just<br />
told us has made us see<br />
her in a whole new light.<br />
In addition to being an<br />
award-winning actress, the<br />
woman’s also a DIY wizz!<br />
“Yes, I’ve done a lot of<br />
DIY in my time,” she reveals.<br />
“I’ve put up shelves, laid a<br />
floor, taken out a fireplace<br />
and once I plumbed in a<br />
toilet and basin.”<br />
What?<br />
“Not in the house that I<br />
live in now,” she laughs.<br />
“I moved out of there<br />
pretty sharpish once I’d<br />
done the plumbing!”<br />
Brenda is joking of<br />
course but undertaking<br />
serious plumbing like that<br />
is no laughing matter. How<br />
did she know how to do it?<br />
“Oh, I read up on it and<br />
asked a few questions,” she<br />
says. “I’m a bit like Vera in<br />
that respect – I bet she’d be<br />
Brenda<br />
reveals a<br />
surprising<br />
talent!<br />
Brenda shares a secret<br />
She wouldn’t turn her nose up at<br />
playing Miss Marple on TV.<br />
“I wouldn’t mind a crack at it!<br />
I believe I was considered at one<br />
time but I was too young! The<br />
wonderful Joan Hickson (right) is my<br />
all-time favourite Miss Marple, but I<br />
like Julia McKenzie, too. She’s terrific.”<br />
Brenda as the indomitable<br />
Vera Stanhope with Kenny<br />
Doughty as DS Aiden Healy<br />
capable of plumbing in a loo.<br />
I wouldn’t do it now, though.<br />
Not when I can afford<br />
someone else to do it and I<br />
can criticise them!”<br />
It’s doubtful she’d have<br />
the time, either – not when<br />
she spends five months of<br />
the year in the North East<br />
making Vera, now in its<br />
eighth series.<br />
“Filming is very intensive;<br />
we do a four-weeks-on, oneweek-off<br />
pattern. For the first<br />
few years, I stayed in a hotel.<br />
It was very nice but I’d be<br />
climbing the walls because<br />
all I’d want to do at the end of<br />
a long day’s filming was boil<br />
an egg and make some toast<br />
– impossible in a hotel. Now<br />
I rent a small flat, which suits<br />
me fine.”<br />
However, there was a<br />
time at the end of the last<br />
series that Brenda was<br />
doubtful she wanted to<br />
carry on making Vera.<br />
“The only way I can<br />
describe it is to say it’s like<br />
when you’ve had a massive<br />
meal and you can’t ever<br />
think about eating again,”<br />
she smiles. “The waiter goes,<br />
‘Would you like to see the<br />
menu again?’ and you’re like,<br />
‘No! Please! Leave me alone!’<br />
But the next day you’re<br />
hungry again. When I’ve just<br />
finished making the four<br />
Vera films, I don’t want to<br />
think about the next lot. But<br />
give it a couple of weeks and<br />
it’s different. The success of<br />
it has been overwhelming,<br />
really, and it’s very nice to be<br />
central to that.”<br />
Overwhelming is spot-on.<br />
It’s sold to more than 20<br />
countries worldwide and<br />
Brenda says it never ceases<br />
to amaze her how many<br />
young fans the series has.<br />
“Earlier this year I went to<br />
a crime writers’ convention<br />
in Harrogate with Vera<br />
‘The success of<br />
Vera has been<br />
overwhelming,<br />
really, and it’s<br />
very nice to be<br />
central to that’<br />
creator, Anne Cleeves, and<br />
my co-star Kenny Doughty,”<br />
Brenda explains. “At the end<br />
of one of the talks there was<br />
a Q&A and a 12-year-old boy<br />
stood up and said, ‘Vera is<br />
my favourite programme<br />
and my friends’ favourite<br />
programme.’ He went on to<br />
explain that they loved it<br />
because Vera was very stern<br />
but funny, too. He and his<br />
mates also loved the stories<br />
and tried to work out who’d<br />
committed the crimes.<br />
“That’s what my<br />
nephew’s family like to do,<br />
too, and during commercial<br />
breaks, they lower the<br />
sound on the TV and discuss<br />
the case! I’m surprised and<br />
delighted that the show<br />
appeals to such a wide<br />
demographic – it’s not<br />
like we’re going out of<br />
our way to appeal to<br />
young audiences so it’s<br />
a real bonus. There are<br />
Vera trails that have been<br />
star chat<br />
set up around the beautiful<br />
locations where we film in<br />
the North East – the moors,<br />
countryside and fabulous<br />
coastline.<br />
“In fact, Anne Cleeve<br />
was minding her own<br />
business one day when<br />
a very excited young girl<br />
identified her from her tiny<br />
photo on the Vera books.<br />
The girl had been brought<br />
on the trail by her dad for<br />
a 21st birthday treat! Anne<br />
then invited them on set to<br />
watch some filming! I was<br />
also very chuffed to be told<br />
that tourism in the region<br />
where we film has increased<br />
by 25 per cent since we<br />
started making Vera. I’m not<br />
surprised – it is an absolutely<br />
stunning part of the UK and<br />
the people are so lovely, too.<br />
And so resilient. At one time<br />
their economy was almost<br />
completely reliant on ship<br />
building and coal mining.<br />
Both industries have gone<br />
now but the region is rising<br />
from the ashes. There’s a lot<br />
of filming going on up here.”<br />
While filming this<br />
last series Brenda (71)<br />
brought her two-year-old<br />
Cockerpoo dog, Jack, up to<br />
Northumberland.<br />
“They cared for him at<br />
the production base when<br />
we were filming,” she says.<br />
“I couldn’t have brought<br />
him on set with me – he’d<br />
never have left me alone.<br />
He did make it on set once<br />
or twice, though, and one<br />
of the production team<br />
made a video of him, acting<br />
like he was a dog detective,<br />
with footage of him in Vera’s<br />
office, the operations room<br />
and even the morgue with<br />
the soundtrack of Nine to<br />
Five by Dolly Parton in the<br />
background. It’s hilarious!”<br />
Just like Brenda always is!<br />
n Vera is on ITV<br />
10 YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
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PICs: jonathan birch/camera press, rex/shutterstock
We take a look around a bear hospital<br />
giving a new lease of life to poorly<br />
old childhood companions<br />
By Katharine Wootton<br />
Above an unassuming<br />
bakery in Lyme Regis,<br />
critical medical work<br />
is going on. Under two<br />
dazzling spotlights,<br />
Doctor Dave and Nurse Lesley<br />
work precisely and with complete<br />
concentration on the patient before<br />
them, doing all they can to make them<br />
better. Meanwhile, a few metres away,<br />
rows and rows of beds lie full with<br />
patients also waiting their turn on<br />
Doctor Dave’s operating table.<br />
This work requires all the delicate,<br />
razor-sharp skills of a surgeon but,<br />
as you might have guessed, this is<br />
no ordinary surgery. For instead of<br />
scalpels, these surgeons rely on sewing<br />
needles, scissors and a cupboard full<br />
of fabrics, stuffing and eyes to fix their<br />
patients. And instead of humans, the<br />
patients lying on the operating table are<br />
cuddly teddy bears that are in need of<br />
a little TLC.<br />
This is Alice’s Bear Shop, a bear<br />
hospital set up by Rikey Austin in 1998<br />
to bring happiness to people by making<br />
their teddies better.<br />
Over the years, they’ve accepted<br />
bears in all different shapes and sizes,<br />
with every kind of coat, from mohair<br />
to wool, sent in from all over the<br />
world. Some of the bears they receive<br />
‘The world’s<br />
a better<br />
place with<br />
teddies’<br />
Nurse Lesley, Doctor Dave and<br />
Rikey treat every one of their<br />
patients with love and care!<br />
Poorly patients have their<br />
own bed and progress<br />
charts! Left: Rikey hugs a<br />
treasured ted<br />
are children’s teddies having found<br />
themselves in sticky situations, while<br />
others are years or even decades old,<br />
having been passed down through<br />
families or become scraggly after one<br />
too many cuddles.<br />
The first port of call when the<br />
enquiry comes in from someone with a<br />
sickly teddy is to ask what needs fixing<br />
as well as – most importantly – what<br />
shouldn’t be changed, whether that’s<br />
the bald patch on his head made from<br />
too many kisses or a special accessory<br />
given to ted.<br />
“These bears have generally earned<br />
the wear they have and this wear a tells<br />
a story,” says Rikey. “Our aim is to make<br />
these bears last as long as possible<br />
without diminishing their character.”<br />
Today, Rikey has up to 80 patients in<br />
her hospital at any one time, with each<br />
patient taking between a couple of days<br />
and several months to fix depending on<br />
the treatment they require, with those<br />
needing specially-dyed new patches<br />
taking the longest. But there is also an<br />
A&E procedure for those patients who<br />
require critical care. “If we have a child<br />
who desperately needs their teddy,<br />
or an adult who’s slept with their bear<br />
every night and needs him to sleep,<br />
then we’ll get the bear repaired as fast<br />
as we can, even staying late or working<br />
into the night if need be,” she says.<br />
One bear Rikey and her team<br />
worked painstakingly over was for<br />
a little boy whose teddy had ended<br />
up in the garden when his dad was<br />
mowing the lawn. “What came in to<br />
us was a bag of grass clippings with<br />
bits of teddy bear mixed in. His mum<br />
was adamant she wouldn’t pay for<br />
the bear to be fixed as she wanted her<br />
son to learn to look after his things.<br />
But when the little boy offered to pay<br />
out of his own pocket money, I said<br />
we’d fix his teddy for £5 and a box of<br />
Maltesers, although it should have<br />
cost hundreds. I told him I couldn’t do<br />
it during normal opening times but I’d<br />
sit and work on him every day after<br />
real life<br />
work for as long as it took. When we<br />
finally gave him his finished teddy<br />
back, he cried and I cried. His mum<br />
said that changed him and that little<br />
boy came back to visit us every year<br />
for ten summers.”<br />
Every day, and every teddy, brings<br />
with it a new, special story, including<br />
the one from a lady who, having been<br />
adopted at a young age, her teddy was<br />
the only thing she had left of her birth<br />
mother. It’s this special, unique quality<br />
of our relationships with teddies that<br />
motivates Rikey and her team to keep<br />
running this amazing hospital.<br />
‘Teddy bears are how we<br />
learn to be a carer; they’re<br />
like our first children and<br />
the bond between them<br />
and us is incredibly strong’<br />
“Teddy bears are how we learn<br />
to be a carer; they’re like our first<br />
children and the bond between them<br />
and us is incredibly strong. Learning<br />
to love your teddy makes you a better<br />
person. I’ve always said to my three<br />
sons that if you meet someone and<br />
fall for them, find out if they’ve still<br />
got their childhood teddy. If they<br />
don’t, find out if there’s a really good<br />
reason why they don’t. For example,<br />
I lost my beloved teddy aged six<br />
when I accidentally left him at the<br />
motorway service station. But if she<br />
just threw it away when it got tatty,<br />
run a mile.”<br />
As well as patching up teds and<br />
some dolls, Rikey also sells kits for<br />
people to make their own rag dolls and<br />
memory bears – special teddies made<br />
out of children’s babygrows or clothes<br />
of a lost loved one, proceeds of which<br />
go to support the Air Ambulance.<br />
She’s also just set up a website to<br />
reunite lost teddies around the world<br />
with their devastated owners on<br />
www.teddybearlostandfound.com<br />
“I just want to make the world a<br />
better place with teddies,” says Rikey.<br />
n If you would like more information on<br />
Alice’s Bear Shop, or find out more about<br />
the kits, call 01297 444589 or visit<br />
www.alicesbearshop.co.uk<br />
26 YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT 27<br />
PICs: patrick boyd photography