about

Hello, and welcome!

My name is Barbara Ann Harding and, together with my husband Terry, I make our
"Teds of the Riverbank" bears in our 300 year old cottage (actually the "hovel on the
hill" and named "Riverbank" as we're great fans of "Wind in the Willows") in the old
panhandle of Cheshire on the edge of the Pennines.   This part of Cheshire used to be
known as the panhandle when Cheshire was shaped like a teapot! The spout was
swallowed up by The Wirral and we ended up being swallowed by Greater Manchester!
But folks around here are proud of their unique heritage - we sit at the junction of four
counties (Lancashire, Yorkshire,, Cheshire and Derbyshire) and have inherited traits
from each; which is probably why local folk still insist we live in Cheshire! Mind you,
our cottage is just over the river, and hence the border, so we actually geographically live
in Lancashire!

I made my first bear when I was about 7 years old. My dad had made me a dolls house
for Christmas that year and my mum and I used to spend hours making little dolls out of
pegs, furniture out of all sorts of bits and pieces and little bears from old mohair. Over
the years I made bears for pleasure for myself and as gifts for friends and relatives and
carried on doing so when I went to live in Australia in 1968 - but there I also made
Koalas and Kangaroos! Returning to sunny England in 1974, I carried on the bear
making, albeit on a very small scale, then people asked to buy them! In 2003, conscious
of the fact that retirement was not that far off, Terry and I decided that selling our bears
would be a nice little retirement hobby and a good way to meet like minded folk - thus
began our first steps into bear fairs,

By early 2005, we were clocking up the miles and having a whale of a time designing and
making lots of teds, attending many fairs and meeting lots of nice beary folk. We have
been busy - so much so that I've been working on this site for 4 years now and have only
just managed to get it sorted out - hope you like it.

Our most popular range is the "Ragamuffin Kids", 6" and 8" little teds weighted with
steel shot - yep, they really are heavy! Our "12" Ted and Golly" range is popular too
and each of these comes complete with an original print from the old "Adventures of the
Two Dutch Dolls". At the moment I'm working on a "My Old Bear" range and hope to
have a few ready for later in the year (I'm testing the waters so to speak at the moment
with a prototype!). I also do many "one offs" and then the pattern goes off to the "Kits"
or "Pattern"s" section which have proved popular, particular the little 6" floppy "Panda
Babe".   All our bears come with their own adoption certificate and a year later his/her
new mum/dad receive a "happy anniversary" card! This is very popular and nearly every
customer has one.

We also run workshops at "Riverbank" . Often just 2 or 3 people at a time (we can't fit
any more in!) and also on a one-to-one basis. The workshops are 1 or 2 days depending
on how far you need to travel, although we can split them over two weekends if you need
the 2 day beginners "from the start" course.

Finally, please have a look at the -
- " Knits" (all our own designs of teddy jumpers, cardies, hats etc. for 6" to 22" bears)
- "Kits" (kits (some complete -ie everything you need) of bears that have been retired
- "Bits" (all sorts of goodies - some (eg shopping bags, pencil cases, purses) made by us,
- "Patterns" (for "Teds of the Riverbank" bears, knits, dungarees, etc)
- "Old Bears" (a small selection of old bears, mostly 1930's to 1960's)
- "Past Times Playthings" (all sorts of odds and bods!)
- "Charity Bear" (In support of "Find a Cure for Martha")
- "Repairs" (I also undertake sympathetic repairs for poorly teds)

Hope I've not rambled on too long!

Thanks for looking at our bears

Hugs and look forward to seeing you,

Barbara Ann
(July 2010)

Update on the 2nd October 2010 : Well, thank you all for your lovely comments and
thank you to the lovely people who ordered bears - some were posted but others were
collected and it was really nice to meet new bear collectors.
Update on 12th January 2011 : Have put a little "chat" on the home page - please have
a look!

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