Farewelling a Takapau couple’s collection of 4000 teddies: ‘They don’t cost anything to feed and they’ll love you forever’

Brenda Blackett loves her 4000 teddy bears, but she and her husband have decided the time is right to let them go - in one big sale. Photo / Paul Taylor

The Takapau Town Hall is filled once again, from wall to wall, with one family’s collection of more than 4000 teddy bears.

This time though, they’re all for sale.

The collection is a labour of love for Takapau identities Brenda and John Blackett, but this week, it’s the last time they’ll be on show.

They started as a feature of the Blacketts’ iconic Christmas Lights House, a once-annual Christmas display that started in 2009.

But then there were so many that they outgrew Christmas. One hundred teddies became 400, then 800, then 1200.

Brenda decided they needed their own space, to branch out on their own, and the Takapau Teddy Bear Show was born.

The bear show took to the Takapau Town Hall for a week-long annual display, open to the public for just a gold coin donation. The donations helped fund the hundreds of gifts for children given each year at the Christmas Lights House.

And the bears just kept coming, as Brenda’s keen eye spotted more around the country and brought them home to Takapau.

Word spread and people started donating bears as well, eventually filling a 4.5 by 5-metre room in the couple’s home when in hibernation mode between bear shows.

But all good things come to an end and, with the loss of Brenda’s dad last year – a strong supporter of the Christmas Lights House and renowned for operating the model train every year – and the couple facing their own health challenges, it’s time for a change of direction.

The Christmas lights set-up has been sold and will be lighting up a new location in Dannevirke.

Now it’s time for the bears to take their leave. After they take centre stage at the Takapau Town Hall this weekend, they won’t be returning home.

Each bear will be for sale – a minimal price tag on most and a little more on the collectable ones – and Brenda hopes they will all go to new homes where they can spread their “joy and hugs”.

There will also be porcelain dolls in the sale.

“We’ve been explaining to people we can’t donate the bears to hospitals or childcare [facilities] as they are not new and they can’t be effectively sanitised. It would be fantastic if someone bought the bulk of them and set up their own display, but we’ll have to wait and see where they end up.

“It’s time for us to downsize, have some time with our family, go and look at other people’s lights at Christmastime and do some travelling,” Brenda says, admitting that buying bears is proving to be a hard habit to break.

“I keep seeing bears I haven’t got and need to remind myself I can’t buy any more. I have to learn to look at them and then leave them in the shop.

“I am really going to miss the bears, but health comes first.”

Some of the special donated bears will stay with Brenda, though.

“I made some promises to some of the donors, and those bears will stay with me forever. It will be nice to still see them sitting there. As for the others, we’ll have lots of memories.”

The bears will be for sale (cash only) until Saturday, April 22 from 10am - 4pm, at the Takapau Town Hall.

“Bring deep pockets and take home bears to hug,” Brenda says. “They don’t cost anything to feed and they’ll love you forever.”