First 'teddy bear hospital' comes to Cornwall

An experienced seamstress from St Austell is giving treasured toys another lease of life through her bear repair service.

Angie Davey started sewing when she was nine years old and four months ago started her business 'Davey Bears'.

So far she has restored around 10 bears, including pandas and rabbits. She's taken before and after pictures to show their transformations.

Angie says that her business is about helping bring back important family memories and "ensuring the teddy bear heritage survives".

She said: "It’s seeing the look on people’s faces when you give it back and they look like they used to. 

"It’s not about the money it’s about helping to keep people’s memories alive, it’s about what they mean."

"I’ve got a bear I’m working on for a woman at the moment - it’s 100 years old. It was her grans and her mums and they’re not here anymore. All she’s got is this bear.”

At school Angie says she was not the most academic and preferred working with her hands.

Over the years she has had various roles, including being a hairdresser and working in administration posts.

She always kept her sewing going as a hobby and to repair clothes for friends and family.

Over the past year Angie became interested in bear repair. She subscribed to a teddy bear magazine and decided to put her 30 years of experience into helping toys that have fallen into disrepair by doing this full time.

Angie now works from home in a "little room upstairs" which has dedicated equipment to help the toys in her care.

The bears all have their own beds for their stays with their "own little cushion" and are all kept separately so they don’t cross-contaminate each other, for example, if an old bear contains a moth.

The idea is proving a hit online, with some people commenting on how they do not like the idea of having to send their bears away, but would consider giving them to Angie for a stay at her teddy bear hospital. Owners are given regular updates on how their bears are doing.

Angie says each individual toy has their own care plan. She said: "It takes a lot of inspection to start with to see what the integrity of the bear is. You’ve got to be so so careful."

For example, Angie explains how a modern bear can have its stuffing taken out and be soaked in a bath. However, this is not possible for a vintage or antique bear due to the texture and quality of its fur. They will need to be surface washed very gently, a little bit at a time, and then allowed to dry.

Each teddy has its own story to tell and people that love them, and that is at the heart of Angie's process.

She said: "I work alongside the owners closely to see what they want. It’s not about what I want it’s about what they want to see done to their bears."

"I had one recently and the eyes had been done by their grandmother and they said 'don’t replace the eyes, I want to keep them.'

"I’m here to be respectful to the bear and that’s a cherished memory for someone and something you can’t replace."

"I had a little rabbit recently this little girl had had this rabbit from birth. The rabbit’s tail was in the middle of its body after a family friend had tried to repair it. This friend had taken the bunny apart and put it back together upside down. The little bag of pellets that is usually at the bottom was at the top.

"I put the bunny back together and it’s had a bath. I’ve got a method that refluffs the toy so it looked brand new. The little girl is only three - she said ‘I have a new bunny’. It took some convincing it was the same bunny. She said 'he’s too fluffy mummy!'"