Teddy bear lovingly restored after washing up on Cornwall beach in storm

A teddy bear's head found washed up on a beach in Cornwall has been lovingly restored after a year of painstaking work.

Tracey Williams, who posts about items discovered on beaches, found the remains of the bear on Porth beach near Newquay after the storms in January last year.

After seeing the photo online, Eleanor Rance, from Shrewton in Wiltshire, got in touch to ask if she could attempt to restore him.

Rev Canon Eleanor Rance, who is rector of Shrewton and a former RAF chaplain, said she had never tried restoring a teddy bear before but enjoys sewing.

Her son named the bear Sinbad, in honour of its ocean journey.

The bear’s fur was coated in seaweed and sand with little shells, stones and a tiny piece of coral embedded in it.

Eleanor said: "His eyes and nose were still there and had become opaque, like sea glass. He must have been in the sea for ages.

"He must have been loved very much once, but there is no way of knowing who he belonged to."

Eleanor first mended the holes in Sinbad’s face and realised the bear was still fluffy behind the ears.

She then researched patterns for the body and realised Sinbad was in fact a large bear, measuring around 50cm high.

The body was sewn together in June, with fur added to it in December.

On 14 January, she posted an image of Sinbad’s before and after – showing the bear fully restored into a soft teddy bear.

Sinbad is now a therapy bear and has been taken to visit residents at a care home and into schools for assemblies.

Eleanor added: “The fact that he was battered and wounded but could still have a life and a future – it’s a story we all understand and relate to.

“People who meet him want to love and care for him, as I did.”

Research is under way to try to trace the bear’s ocean journey, thanks to seaweed that fell out of its fur.

A marine biologist has offered to examine the seaweed to see if they can give clues as to how long Sinbad spent at sea and where the bear travelled.