Woman sells teddy bears as bed was too crowded

A former jeweller who has amassed more than 1,500 teddy bears over her lifetime will put most of them up for auction tomorrow.

Lynda Fairhurst’s collection goes under the hammer as part of the Teddy Bears, Dolls, Dolls’ Houses and Traditional Toys Auction in Newbury, Berks. Ms Fairhurst, 69, from Wiltshire has been told the 1,005 bears are expected to fetch £30,000 to £35,000.

“I’ve never collected rubbish,” she 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.”