If You Go Down In The Woods Today
CREDIT: © Julian Thurgood/VisitCumbria.com
WHERE: Keswick, Cumbria, England. WHAT: teddy bear wood carvings.
MAP: Keswick. Thumbnail pops-up larger image.

As children we had access to a wind up gramophone, complete with a handful of badly abused vinyl discs. Scouring the web we have managed to locate these old favorites; 'The Laughing Policeman' by Charles Penrose was still able to raise a smile. The British Broadcasting Corporation, or as one American announcer famously fluffed the name "British Broadcorping Castration" but still known as 'Auntie' or 'The Beeb' to many people who will never forgive the capitulation of using 'radio' instead of 'wireless', seemed to play a sort of secret children's top fifty in those days. The most enduring favorite song was surely 'Teddy Bears Picnic' by the 1936 Henry Hall Orchestra, with vocals by Val Rosing. The era is recalled by the SterlingTimes.co.uk web site on the Hello Children Everywhere page. Thorough wallowing in faded patriotic nostalgia is recommended.

The photograph of the teddy bears picnic in our thumbnail feature was taken for the VisitCumbria.com web site. The bears are carved from solid wood, using only a chainsaw, by operatives at the Derwent Bay Bears workshops, near Keswick in the English Lake District county of Cumbria. The bears are then treated to remove burrs and make them suitable for an outdoor life, but to retain their rustic appearance.

VisitCumbria.com is a big web site, and owner Julian Thurgood has begun the daunting task of updating, often replacing older pictures with newer scans, or upgrading pages. We can think of no better virtual introduction to the area, particularly suitable if you are planning to physically visit for a vacation.

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