Woman’s teddy haul may fetch £35k at auction
TALKS TO PSYCHOTHERAPIST HELEN SANDERSON, ABOUT THE MENTAL HEALTH BENEFITS OF A TIDY HOME
AWOMAN from Wiltshire who amassed a collection of more than 1,500 teddy bears over 58 years will put many of the toys up for auction.
Lynda Fairhurst’s collection is set to go under the hammer tomorrow as part of the Teddy Bears, Dolls, Dolls’ Houses and Traditional Toys Auction in Newbury, organised by Special Auction Services.
Ms Fairhurst, 69, has parted with 1,005 of her bears ahead of the auction – a selection which she has been told might fetch between £30,000 and £35,000.
The sales are part of a wider auction which will include a rare ‘Titanic’ teddy bear believed to have been created shortly after the ship’s sinking in 1912 and dolls made by liberated concentration camp workers in 1945.
“Put it like this – I don’t collect rubbish and I’ve never collected rubbish,” Ms Fairhurst, who used to run an antique jewellers, said.
“Some of them are lovely... (but) they were getting out of control. I was crawling into bed and I had them either side and you couldn’t move really.”
Ms Fairhurst purchased her first bear as a young child in the 1960s when she visited the Hamley’s store in London and was tempted into buying it by a friend.
While her intention behind auctioning off two-thirds of her collection is primarily to make room, there are a few she could not part with.
“There’s one particular (bear maker) I’m absolutely besotted with and I’d never get rid of them,” she said. “Her name is Marie Robischon... I wouldn’t sell them.”
Ms Fairhurst added that she takes pride in the restoration work she has carried out on many of the teddies.
“I bought one at an auction once and I took it back the following week to show the old chap that sold it to me,” she explained.
“I said, ‘What do you think of this bear?’ He said ‘Oh, that’s a lovely bear, isn’t it?’
“I said, ‘Yeah I bought it off you last week.’ He said, ‘Never...”’
Daniel Agnew, the head of dolls and teddy bears at Special Auction Services, said he was “blown away” by Ms Fairhurst’s collection.
“I’ve known Lynda as a collector for a number of years but was blown away when I finally saw her collection,” he said.
“Never have I seen so many teddy bears in one place, piled high with characters. I am delighted to be including her collection in my 2022 auctions.”
Ms Fairhurst does not plan to attend the auctions but promised there are “some very nice bears” up for grabs. She has also given away many of the bears’ clothes, chairs and other decorative items to be auctioned.
The collection is so large that the auctioning will be spread out across June, July and August. Other teddies that are not Ms Fairhurst’s
are also expected to do well.
The Steiff black mohair ‘Titanic’ teddy bear is estimated at £5,000 to £8,000, among other historically significant toys.
Four Polish Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp 1945 Liberation Red Cross cloth dolls will go under the hammer. They were made by liberated Polish women from the concentration camp and provided comfort to those who were nursed by British Red Cross nurses and doctors after the Second World War.
will help their cause, but don’t waste police and ambulance time trying to unstick them, just leave them there.
The right to protest against a Government or its policies without harassment is one of the great things about this country – one that is often not available in countries favoured by some protesters, but what they do not have is what they seem to assume to be a God given right to disrupt the lives of ordinary people trying to go about their lawful business and if they do so, they should be removed by the police – by force if necessary.
Paul Mercer Devon
IS your home full of stuff you might not need, but you haven’t got round to clearing out?
Possibly it’s because it brings back memories, or you can’t decide what to do with it - so you’ve ended up with a house full of clutter.
“Ultimately, clutter is decisions that haven’t been made,” says psychotherapist and interior designer Helen Sanderson (helensanderson.com), author of The Secret Life Of Clutter. “Things end up in a pile, container or drawer because that seems easier than deciding where to put them or what to do with them.
“You say, ‘I’ll deal with that later’, and probably mean it. But weeks, months or even years later, it’s still there, buried beneath countless subsequent things you’ve not processed.”
Helen says there are many reasons people avoid decisions in this way. “It’s often because of the meaning and emotions we attach to our possessions,” she says.
“Memories of a trauma, or an unrealised creative project get stirred when we open those drawers. Sometimes it’s simply a busy life, or never having learned how to create order in the home. Usually, it’s some combination of these.”
So, while on the surface, clutter is about how we deal with physical stuff, it’s often rooted in something deeply psychological, explains Helen, who says although we often want to create beautiful, clutter-free homes, something in our psychology sabotages that.
“Regardless of how much decluttering you do, if you don’t identify and address those underlying issues, the clutter will inevitably come back,” she says. “Once you truly understand what’s underneath your clutter, and listen to the story it has to tell, it empowers you to make a deeper shift and make room for your clutter-free home.
“I believe there’s a balance to be struck in our homes between chaos and order, allowing us clear, harmonious spaces that give us room to think while still having a healthy amount of stuff that we love, find useful, or simply don’t want to lose.”
Here are Helen’s 10 decluttering your home:
1.A cluttered home is like an overgrown garden
Helen says it can be useful to think of cluttered homes as overgrown gardens that need weeding, planting and maintaining. “The weeding process is about making all those unmade decisions, such as keep, let go, or action. Planting means creating a plan, placing things in a beautiful, harmonious way and optimally organising what you choose to keep: a place for everything and everything in its place. And maintaining is about building new habits with compassionate self-discipline, so your home supports you to live with greater ease.”
It’s crucial to declutter in this order, she says.
2.Create a clear vision
Imagine exactly how you’d like your home steps to to be. Write it down or create a vision board of inspiring images from magazines or Pinterest. Then write down why you want to create space and order – is it for a creative project? Do you want to feel more comfortable inviting people round?
3.Understand the reality
Look inside all the cupboards, drawers and boxes and establish a clear picture of exactly what you’re dealing with. “This isn’t to discourage you, but so you can effectively plan your declutter project. It will also help motivate you by creating a tension between where you are now and your vision of where you want to be.”
4.Do it in manageable stages
This can be room by room, cupboard by cupboard, or drawer by drawer, says Helen. “I recommend you master one room, then move to another. It’s important to experience successes, even small ones.”
5.Identify obstacles
Are you a big procrastinator, easily distracted or likely to get emotional? Are you going to find it hard to make time to do the work? Do you get brain-freeze when you see the chaos and then struggle to make decisions?
“Once you’ve understood the barriers you might face, put some clear strategies in place to help you overcome them,” advises Helen, who suggests you might get a friend to help, or
Break your clear out into manageable stages
Psychologist and interior designer Helen Sanderson even consider employing a professional organiser or coach.
6.Remove possible distractions
“Accept that once you start, other things are likely to be much more appealing than sorting out those piles of stuff,” suggests Helen.
“So turn off your phone, cancel other plans and send the family and even the pets out – unless they’re helping.”
7.Put some clutter in front of you
Start a timer, collect your stuff and stack it in front of you – so take out a stack of books, paperwork or empty a drawer into a box. “What works best is if you can have someone to help,” says Helen. “Their job is simply to bring things to you, and your job is simply to make decisions. No putting things away, ask: ‘Is this staying or going?’”
8.Keep, Recycle, Bin, Donate, Action
One by one, decide are you going to recycle, sell, keep, bin, action, or donate each item – these are the core decisions that have to be made, says Helen, who advises people to work quickly, trust their intuition and keep going.
She also suggests creating a ‘Don’t Know’ pile to help maintain momentum. “That way, if you aren’t sure, you can put the item there and come back to it later, instead of breaking your
flow of decisions.”
9.Complete the task
Make sure you allocate time at the end of the session to complete the job properly – this means immediately taking out the recycling and rubbish, and putting all donations in the car, so you’re not tempted to review your decisions and undermine your hard work. “Completion here is key,” stresses Helen.
10.Plant and maintain
The next stage is the planting stage, when you efficiently categorise and put everything away, followed by maintaining what you’ve achieved.
“Accumulated clutter can represent a life lived in the past,” says Helen. “By creating space in your home, you’re making room for new experiences and opportunities.”
■ The Secret Life Of Clutter: Getting Clear, Letting Go And Moving On by Helen Sanderson, Piatkus, £16.99
...if you don’t identify and address those underlying issues, the clutter will inevitably come back
Hoarding is
As summer sets in, it’s tempting to be outside as much as possible rather than being cooped up in the gym for exercise.
“Studies have shown that outdoor training lowers a person’s blood pressure and heart rate,” says personal trainer Luke Hughes, co-founder of OriGym (origympersonaltrainercourses. co.uk). “This makes exercise outdoors feel less strenuous than the equivalent indoors, meaning you’re able to push yourself harder, and potentially achieve more.”
We asked fitness pros the best way to go about it...
Check out your local parkrun
You can jump in on the parkrun fun in over 750 locations and it’s free (parkrun.org.uk).
Over two million people have completed parkruns and with all experience levels welcome, it’s a great way to work on your fitness while being part of a friendly community.
Check out local outdoor classes
Luke says “outdoor bootcamps and fitness classes are a great way to keep active and make connections with individuals, who share your passion for a specific workout style or routine” – and there are plenty to be found across the country.
“Bootcamps are regarded as one of the best fitness classes because they unite clientele with one goal. So, if you’d like to meet and engage with like-minded individuals, it’s a great process,” adds Luke.
Many parks have yoga classes and – even more excitingly – in some cities you can try yoga on a rooftop, to really get the most out of the sun.
At one with nature
Get swimming outside
Whether it is your local lido or a more wild experience, swimming has become a popular fitness choice, particularly during the pandemic when we have all been more desperate to get outdoors (in fact, there was reportedly a 323% rise in people ‘wild swimming’).
Personal trainer Tirrel Grant says: “Swimming is great, as you can improve cardiovascular health and the exercise is low-impact – good if you are recovering from an injury. You can improve general fitness levels by swimming regularly.”
Use what’s already there
The simplest of equipment could be beneficial. “The humble park bench can be used for many exercises. Like the benches you find in the gym, you can do tricep dips, incline or decline press-ups, squats, box jumps, and Bulgarian split squats,” suggests Luke.
“A fun way to incorporate swings is to treat them as a swiss ball. For example, you could perform decline press-ups, glute bridges, jack-knives, roll-outs, knee tucks and hamstring curls.”
And for an amazing upper body session: “Bring out your inner child and jump on your park’s monkey bars. Exercises you can do with monkey bars include pull-ups, hanging leg raises and hanging sit-ups,” he adds.
Join a running club
Find running intimidating on your own? Joining a running club could give that extra motivation boost, and clubs are bound to be busier in summer as the weather improves.
Flo Seabright, founder of Fit by Flo (fitbyflo.com), runs a weekly running club and says there’s a host of benefits. “We love our run club because it offers an amazing opportunity for us to come together as a community and take on a new challenge as a team,” she explains.
“Motivating yourself to head out for a run can be hard at the best of times but as part of a group, everyone, regardless of their individual abilities, can get involved with something new in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.”
Look at local community pages to find a running club near you.