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From Times Online

December 12, 2007

The wandering bears

A gallery of the world's best travelled teddies - and the overall winner

Gareth Scurlock

Voting has closed and the votes have been counted. Take a bow teddy 10, Charmin the charity bear, who works at The Rainbow Centre for Children in Bristol looking after recently bereaved and seriously ill children.

View a full-size picture of the Charmin's winning picture

Charmin and the children at the centre will now have a new friend to play with, Noel the Christmas Bear - a similarly gigantic size. Noel and Charmin should get on like a house on fire this Christmas. Charmin, despite being pictured on a Harley Davidson, has not had many opportunities to travel - what with his size and dedication to his work. Perhaps now Noel can provide cover so Charmin can enjoy a well earned holiday.

The Hamleys Noel Christmas Bear will be winging its way to The Rainbow Centre for Children in Bristol in plenty of time to bring Christmas cheer.

The voting was incredibly close, a rush of e-mails in the final 48 hours beating Edward Bear (picture 19) into second place by a small handful of votes - he obviously has a lot of friends as well. The first and second placed bears took a resounding 40% of the votes between them, many more than the next contenders.

Others to perform well in the poll included Eleanor Scriven's bears on the Great Wall of China (picture 20), Bob Bleczinski's surfing Bear (picture 6), Scuba Bear from North Wales (7), Fairford Church of England Primary School's Geobear (5), Manchester's own Billiard and Craig (3) and George on tour in Alaska (2).

Syd - the original travelling teddy

For 18 months roving reporter Syd the Bear has been beaming us pictures of himself on his travels around the world, taking in many of the most famous landmarks on the planet.

Somehow Neil and Christine Hamilton slipped in there to interrupt the cultured bear travels, but we'll forgive him for that. To check out where he's been view Syd's gallery below.

Meanwhile, we asked Syd about his travels. In an exclusive interview, here's a rundown of where he's been and his favourite places:

"I've been to plenty of places. Firstly Australia, four-and-a-half years ago (I was found at a shop in Heathrow airport) and that is why I am called Syd.

"I have a website that is quite out of date now at www.sydthebear.co.uk. It has pictures of me in a fair few places (Albania, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Oman, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Trinidad, Turkey, UAE and the US).

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There's a cool wee site where a couple took Oscar The Grouch around California and a Pepperani around New York at http://www.mccormackj.fsnet.co.uk

David Pearson, Lancaster, England

Great to see a travelling bear competition on Times Online.

ToyVoyagers is a free website dedicated to travelling toys and their adventures.

Please have a look at toyvoyagers.com and let us know what you think.

ToyVoyagers, Warwick, UK

I would ask for a recount but that wouldn't really be very sporting.

I am sure that Edward Bear will enjoy continuing his search for the future Mrs Edward Bear around the world in the coming years.
He's got a bit of a reputation for being a lady's man . . .

Congratulations to Charmin. It was a well fought race!

Happy Christmas!
Edward Bear's Campaign Manager

Michael , Ulaanbatur, Mongolia

Mohammed by any other name.

Paul Martin, Sark, Channel Islands, Channel Islands

THE COMMON CORMORANT

The common cormorant (or shag)
Lays eggs inside a paper bag,
You follow the idea, no doubt?
It's to keep the lightning out.

But what these unobservant birds
Have never thought of, is that herds
Of wandering bears might come with buns
And steal the bags to hold the crumbs.

-- Christopher Isherwood
With due acknowledgement to the copyright holder

Jonathan Bradshaw, Cambridge,

Someone should send these photos to the Sudanese government for distribution to the raving mobs who wanted to kill Gillian Gibbons: maybe then they would understand just how well-loved and respected teddy bears are in Western culture - so much so they're given pride of place as trusty travelling companions and are viewed as lucky charms!

It's a funny cultural quirk from an outsider's point of view, I suppose...

MB, Edinburgh,

The cormorant or common shag lays eggs inside a paper bag,
But, what this unobservant bird does not know, is that
Herds of wandering bears with buns will steal the bags to hold the crumbs!
anon - (at least I think so)

Jill, london,

Don't send the teddy bear to the Sudan, for God's sake.

Laura Roberts, London, UK

Yeah, it was indeed "The wonderful world of Amelie"

Great bears!

Claudia, Liverpool,

I agree with Hotspur, lighten up Benja. We have visited Syds web site what a lucky bear.
3 of my bears have their own passports and regularly travel with me. But they are shy and like to kip down in their rooms! Horace ( he did Sri Lanka last year) is going with us to Sydney for christmas, will make sure his photo gets taken on the bridge. Alas too late for the competition. But watch out Benja!

Becca, Banbury, Oxon

Becca, Banbury, Oxon,

This reminds me of a story a few years ago when someone stole a garden gnome from someones house and then took it round the world taking pictures at famous landmarks and then sending them back as postcards to the OWNER!

It was a great story and one that made me chuckle.

Tariq Iqbal, Peterborough, UK

C'mon Benja, lighten up!

SYD RULES!

Hotspur, London,

Where is our picture of Jockey bear completing the West coast Trtail in BC Canada? He travelled from Australia to hike it

simon Barwick, melbourne,

Gosh, I think it's meant to be a bit of light hearted fun....and I think it is, made me smile anyway!!

Victoria, London,

WHAT A BORE!
Syd the bear is completely naffâ€¦
I mean honestly â€“ It might be slightly entertaining if it was even a remotely original idea...

Jean-Pierre Jeunetâ€™s gnome from the film 'Amelie' was elegantly executed and far more poignant.

thanks

Benja (Sydney, Australia)

Benja, Sydney,