About this deal
Jolly Tall: a toy giraffe who despite his height didn’t like heights - he said his head thought it was high enough already.
Bramwell Brown: a wise old bear, often considered second to Old Bear. Liked to cook things for the other toys.A mysterious box arrives in the playroom. After approaching it cautiously the toys discover it contains a new friend; Jolly Tall the giraffe. With Jolly still inside, everyone sets to work to turn his box into a cosy house for him. There is a problem though; Jolly is too tall to get out of the door! Using a toy crane, the friends finally manage to rescue Jolly and Jolly, in return, performs a rescue of his own. In the end the toys find that something Bramwell has been knitting all week turns out to be the perfect present for their new playmate. In my stories Old Bear is always the sensible one who likes to sort out problems and keep everyone happy. He likes to look after all the other toys and loves reading them a bedtime story at the end of the day.
Castle, Paul. "Old Bear Stories by Jane Hissey". PDC Music. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017 . Retrieved 20 December 2020. It is a very cold day and all the toys are trying to think of ways to keep warm. They play various games that involve running, skipping and rowing but as soon as they stop they feel cold again. Zebra even suggests that they hibernate under a pile of leaves. Ruff thinks that a game of catch would be a better idea. However, it isn't until they are in the middle of the game that they realise just why they have been feeling so cold all day. Little Bear: a small white bear who wore overly baggy orangey red trousers. Being the youngest of all the toys, he was very enthusiastic and inquisitive, rather like a young child. He also sometimes had good ideas for solving problems or playing games. Soft toys have also been made of some of my characters and now lots of people have Old Bears of their own.
Old Bear was my childhood teddy bear. My grandmother gave him to me when I was born and I used to play with him all the time when I was little. It wasn’t long before he needed replacement nose and eyes and I remember my mother sewing him new ones. He still has her stitched ones to this day. It is a wet afternoon and the rain is coming in the playroom window and dripping through a hole in the dolls' house roof. The poor Doll family don't know what to do; all their things are getting wet. The toys dream up lots of ingenious ways of mending the hole, but nothing really works until Little Bear finds a solution quite by chance. While standing on the roof, clutching his umbrella, he accidentally falls through the leaky hole and the Doll family are delighted with the surprising repair.
There has been a party in the playroom and the toys can see that there is lots of food left on the table, but it is just out of reach. Little Bear explores underneath the tablecloth and discovers that it looks just like a circus tent; a starting point for a wonderful new game. Many of the toys want to perform in the circus and others come to watch. It is Rabbit who turns out to be the star of the show and he, accidentally, solves the problem of the out-of-reach food. The toys are searching everywhere for a missing piece of jigsaw puzzle. Their search leads them all over the house and they find all sorts of interesting things they were not looking for. When they find some plates that belong to the Dolls' House dolls, Mrs Doll invites them to tea to thank them. When tea is served everyone is amazed to see what Mrs Doll is using as a tray. It is Old Bear's birthday and the toys decide to surprise him with a special, musical treat. Everyone sets out to find or make an instrument and soon they are making wonderful music. Old Bear is delighted with his surprise and the only problem is that Bramwell has managed to lose his special birthday buns. However, all is revealed when Little Bear's big bass drum rolls out of control.Old Bear is busy redecorating the bathroom. Rabbit thinks decorating looks like fun and gets the other toys to come and lend a hand. The toys are very enthusiastic about painting but soon there is paint everywhere but on the walls. Old Bear thinks of a way that everyone can help without making a mess and in the end they are all delighted with the result! Old Bear: an elderly dusty teddy bear, he was put up in the attic when he reached an advanced age, but was rescued by the other toys. They now looked up to him as a fearless, yet wise, leader. While searching for treasure in the sandpit Rabbit discovers a hoard of yellow counters. Bramwell Brown suggests they use the counters as money. They decide to have a market and all make their own stalls to sell odds and ends. They have great fun buying things from each other with the counters and are puzzled when Old Bear buys lots of containers from Rabbit's stall. The mystery is soon solved when Old Bear teaches the toys another game they can play with their counters. It's winter and snow has covered everything in the garden. The toys have fun playing on a sledge and building a wonderful snowman. Little Bear is worried that the birds must be very hungry as their food is hidden under the snow. At lunchtime the toys all go inside to make bread snowmen to go with Old Bear's delicious soup. While they are waiting for them to cook, they tell each other food stories and become more and more hungry. At last the bread is ready but Little Bear has not forgotten that the birds need feeding too and he has a really good idea.