Grin and bear it

ARCTOPHILES of the world are beating a path to Melrose. Teddy

bear-huggers of the grown-up sort are a well-heeled bunch who travel far

to meet new furry friends and spend money on their passion when they get

there.

Just over a year ago Felix Sear moved north from Jersey to be near his

mother, who had returned to her Scotish roots: ''We have a small castle

up the road,'' says Sear who sports the short, rotund physique of the

best of bears.

Even his speech is full of the self-deprecating, concentric

explanations which characterise the chattering classes of the tribe.

''Years ago, I used to do a bit of semi-professional motor racing and I

got #1000 from selling my transporter.

''I took the money to a toy auction with the thought of buying a train

until I discovered just how much the tracks and carriages cost, never

mind an engine. I ended up with a bear and only later I discovered that

it was a very nice bear and that I had a nice bear at home and I began

to get involved in buying and selling bears as a business. In the yuppie

days of the 80s, when people would spend money on collectors' items,

friends would ask me to find them a good bear.''

Convinced that the douce Borders town was just the sort of place to

appeal to his fellow enthusiasts, he opened Teddy Melrose, a museum

based on his own collection of bears with the commercial backbone of a

shop selling selected British bears and associated merchandise plus the

compulsory tearoom. There are plans for an adjacent building which will

allow teddy bear picnics in the garden. The museum is arranged as a

history of bears and may hold more appeal for adults than children, but

there is shortly to be a children's corner and there is a large

Paddington as a point of recognition for tinies.

While most people asked to name a teddy bear manufacturer might

eventually come up with Steiff because of its recent auction successes,

aficionados can discuss teddy bear lineage as keenly as family

historians delve into genealogy or animal breeders talk pedigrees.

One of the earliest manufacturers, Dean's which began to make bears in

the early 1900s -- although better-known for its dolls and for the

famous rag books -- has recently begun to make bears once more.

Chiltern is another old and sought-after make. According to Felix Sear

the bears epitomise the ever-wise friend a child can sit down and talk

to, but perhaps that is because his own childhood companion was one. ''I

was not allowed to take it away to school but it became a family bear

and was passed on to my young half brother before my daughter got it.''

MAYBE that prohibition answers the nagging question of how all those

old bears survived in such good condition -- no bald bits, patches or

missing ears.

Then there's the interesting line of speculation about the lasting

attraction of bears for certain people. The shop's best customers are

Germans and Japanese. ''It seems to be the disciplined nations who most

like bears,'' surmises Felix.

''All the great character bears are British. Winnie-the-Pooh is the

best-known teddy bear in the world, although Rupert was the first bear

ever to be published as a character (on November 8 1920). They were

known as Bruins or Bears, only becoming Teddies after Theodore Roosevelt

became President of the United States.''

It is almost certain that Winnie was a Farrell bear, made exclusively

for Harrods, although Pooh's now internationally famous shape probably

owes as much to Growler, a Steiff bear which Ernest Shephard is thought

to have used as a model. Felix Sear has artfully arranged the two so

that purists can compare profiles.

Most of us would argue that these characters are essentially English

rather than British -- even the latter-day Paddington falls into that

category. The major manufacturers were all based in England in their

heyday in the first half of the century. Aloysius as portrayed in the

television version of Brideshead Revisited, for example, was a replica

Bully Bear from the House of Nisbet.

Now, the most prized animals are made individually and finished by

hand and most of them are made in Scotland.

Top modern bear-makers (''artists'' says Felix Sear in all

seriousness) include Sue Quinn of Bridge of Weir whose Dormouse label

covers a whole woodland of animals. Timothy, the first of a limited

edition of 25 bears marking her 25 years in the business, has a

prominent place in the museum.

Victoria Marsden makes Changeling bears in the Outer Hebrides,

recognisable by their animal rather than toy-like features and Sue

Nicoll has left her Romsey bear factory to the care of her

daughter-in-law and returned to the Borders to make her own collection

in Teddy Melrose's basement. They have a Scottish flavour with tartan

ribbons or waistcoats.

Most popular locally is Robbie, named after the kenspeckle captain of

Melrose rugby club, Robbie Brown. Maybe there's scope for a Scottish

character bear yet.

* Teddy Melrose, The Wynd, Melrose. Open 10am-4pm, seven days a week.