About Glendaveny Teddy Bears |
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The Glendaveny Teddy Bear project was developed from an idea submitted by a staff member, employed at the Willowbank Day Centre, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, who was a keen collector of traditional teddy bears. He believed that a purely Scottish quality product in that line could be developed locally, with the view to providing employment for people with disabilities. The initiative received approval from senior management of the then Grampian Regional Council. Seven adults with learning disabilities were subsequently appointed to work in the project, having previously gone through application and interview. Training and instruction in various aspects of work and hand skills, hygiene, presentation, quality control and product knowledge was given. Work then began, in 1991, in a self-contained workshop in the lower ground floor of Willowbank Day Centre; the participants working to design patterns provided by the staff member who had put forward the proposal.
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Considerable emphasis was placed on quality control, as is still the case today. Knowledge of the history of teddy bears, number and identification of parts, recognition of types of material etc., ensured that team members could add to the teddy bear experience by showing guests round the workshop and explaining the various aspects of their work, from the cutting out of patterns, hand ‘tacking’ and sewing, and Dacron wool stuffing of body parts to the board and pin jointing of limbs and safety eyes.
Successful sales eventually meant that the business had to relocate, in 1996, to a larger premise in the town centre of the premier fishing port of Peterhead, in the Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Since our expansion, Glendaveny Teddy Bears has been honoured by a visit from HRH Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales. The business also received the recognition of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities by winning that organisation’s award for overall excellence. |
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