When kindness is never too much to bear

WHO hasn’t owned a teddy bear, some new, some much-loved and looking very bare-like. Scruffy and well-worn, each held closely with secrets shared by its owner.

One owner, Margaret Pym, has taken her love of teddy bears to a different level and published a story about a family of teddy’s who lived in Gippsland, where Margaret used to holiday as a child.

The idea for a book came from a watercolour painting Pym was completing in an art class where architecture met fantasy, and on completion the genesis of an idea began to evolve.

The Secret World of Teddy Bears is a story is about kindness, about four teddies living in a small fishing village in Gippsland who one day set off for a picnic and come face to face with their arch enemy, a troll.

However, the troll was too busy on her mobile phone to notice the four happy bears.

The next day, the bears were out walking and found the troll in a very sad state. She had been set upon by Willa the Witch.

The bears fed her and bathed her, much to the troll’s surprise, because no one had been kind to her. The very next day the troll’s character began to change and she thanked the bears.

Amazing what a simple act of kindness can do.

The Secret World of Teddy Bears is available at Collins Booksellers in the Bridge Mall, Ballarat or tedville.etsy.com.