Teddy

This was to have been my blip for tomorrow, but I have to be elsewhere then and I will not have time to do this, although I will still be blipping.

This blip is to celebrate what would have been my mother's 100th birthday; sadly she only lived to be 68 years old. This is her teddy and I am told it is a 1912 Farnell bear; as you can see it has been well loved. I was never allowed to play with it as a child so the loving must have been all from her. I do not suppose that the bear was given to her on the day she was born, but it too must be getting close to being 100 years old.

She was born on the 14 March 1912 and was the youngest of eight children, only three of these survived, the oldest girl and one boy; the other five boys were all stillborn; common in those days. My mother was not expected to live either and I was told she was carried around on a velvet cushion because she was so tiny. Her real name was Florence Emma, but she was always known as Dolly, due to her size as a baby.

Also in the blip are two pictures, in one she looks about three and is pictured with a pram and I assume that this was a photographer's 'prop'. The other one states she was fourteen, but she looks very much younger.