Hi, I'm Fred Bear, the principal character on the new Belper-based website The Bear Club (www.thebearclub.co.uk).  The site is for anyone, whatever your age, who owns a teddy bear.

Your teddy can join The Bear Club and create its own profile and blog space, with photos and stories about its life and adventures.

Which Clan are you in?  When your teddy joins, you choose which of the eight Clans to become a member of. The Clan leaders are based on the eight species of wild bear, and there are articles and features about bears in the wild on the site.

You can view other teddy bear profiles and blogs, enter competitions, read articles, download stuff and much, much more! 

So please come and join me at www.thebearclub.co.uk

What's Been Happening?

Well, what an incredible couple of weeks it's been since the launch of The Bear Club.  I've been so busy you wouldn't believe!  It's wonderful to see so many people joining the site already...and we've barely got started yet!

As you've probably already read, we've had mentions on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio Derby, and have featured in our local press.  The Bear Club has also featured in an art exhibition in Derby, has been shown as part of a university lecture on website design...not to mention being the talk of so many people, in the world of teddy bears and bear conservation.

We are currently in talks with 2 major wildlife conservation charities about joint fundraising initiatives - I'll be telling you more in the very near future, but I'm so excited about it I just had to mention something!

We have been contacted by numerous teddy bear shops and online retailers, not only congratulating us on our website and our brand new teddy bear concept, but also about the possibility of them stocking our fantastic Bear Club Postcards and giving them away with sales of their teddy bears.  Our postcards are even being stocked by Scarthin Books - possibly the best independant bookshop in the country! If you are a teddy bear retailer and would like to get in touch, please email me at fred@thebearclub.co.uk.

Our blog pages on Myspace, Facebook and Blogstoday are also creating a great deal of interest.  It seems to be a really good way of getting the word out about The Bear Club, and is bringing in friends and members from all over the world, which is very exciting.  I'll be adding more content to those sites soon.

I'll be going to the Teddy Bears Picnic at Eastnor Castle (weather permitting) on Sunday - I hope to see some of you there!  It's a world record breaking attempt to stage the largest ever teddy bears picnic.  More details can be found on the News & Events page.

The Bear Club Features & Competitions

We have lots of new features, articles and The Bear Club Story coming to the site very soon, so please keep checking.  We will soon be adding an RSS feed, allowing you to keep up to date with all the latest News & Events from the site, with updates being sent straight to your email.  If you're not familiar with how RSS works, don't worry, I'll explain everything when it's on!

It's getting closer and closer to the end of the month, and that means Competition time!  We've had quite a few entries so far for this months category - Story Writing.  It's not too late to submit a story if you want to try and win yourself a £15 gift voucher for The Bear Club Shop.  Just log in and go to the Competitions page for further details.

I'll also be selecting the Best Blog Picture for July.  I'll put a gallery of my favourites together very soon, then with the help of the Clan Leaders, I'll pick an overall winner.  Again, the prize for the teddy bear lucky enough to be chosen, will be a £15 gift voucher for our Shop.

So, as the coming weeks shape up to get busier and busier, with more and more new members discovering The Bear Club, please help me to spread the word about the site - tell your friends and family about us, tell your online buddies, but most of all, tell your teddy bears!

Love Fred x 
25th July 2007

David & Richard, from The Bear Club team, today (Monday 16th July 2007) made an appearance on the BBC Radio Derby Shane O'Connor Breakfast Show to talk about the launch of The Bear Club.  The interview was broadcast at approximately 8.45am and news of the launch was featured throughout the show's morning news bulletins.

www.thebearclub.co.uk