Old Brown Teddy

I was born in 1955 and toy factories were still stuttering back into normal production after the war when they'd been requisitioned to make things for the war effort. My Nanna searched London for a teddy bear when I was born and was so upset because she could not get a golden furry teddy only a dark brown bear with some sort of plush covering, I loved him dearly.

When I was a toddler Nanna found a beautiful panda bear and gave him to me in place of old brown teddy but I refused to look at the panda and held on tight to old brown teddy. He was a long-suffering bear and never minded being carried around by an ear, or being left out in the rain. He was my first friend and he was not very good looking but he was very good for hugging.

We moved house when I was ten years old and my mum, preparing for the move, threw him out while I was at school, thinking that I wouldn't want him any more. I was so miserable, but the dustmen had been and taken all the rubbish and my first friend had gone.