Shropshire Magazine

Oliver and Sarah Holmes maintain the family connection with Merrythought.

Shirley Tart visits a company at the head of its field — and celebrating a special anniversary

Eighty years after it was founded, the county’s teddy bear company, Merrythought, is the only one left in the UK. And out of its riverside doors still come the most delightful little troupe of bears which are snapped up as special gifts, but also by avid collectors.

—While it might only be a teddy to you, albeit a cute and cuddly one, each little chap or girl produced down in the riverside valley near Ironbridge, is a triumph of survival.

Uniquely designed, handcrafted from the finest fabrics, and absolutely endearing, these teddy bears from out of the historic Gorge are destined for a life with delighted owners from across the world.

And the Merrythought company, so dear to the hearts of generations of local people and known across the globe, is indeed the only remaining teddy-bear manufacturer in the UK.

Sarah Holmes would have been a tiny baby with a few teddies (no doubt very special ones) of her own when the company celebrated its 50-year anniversary.

A modern Merrythought bear.

Fourth generation

Now, in its 80th birthday year, Sarah has just been appointed marketing manager — she is a great granddaughter of the founder and the fourth generation of her family to help keep up the teddy-bear population!

Her father Oliver is still managing director and, despite a few hairy business years in recent times, the factory, workrooms, shop and whole little empire is very much on the up and up, with a staff of 25 making around 15,000 teddy bears a year.

Sarah sums up the pleasure and pride they all feel when she says: “After such a success story, you don’t want to be the generation which lets it go.”

And so the quintessentially English, handmade teddies live on down the years to be bought and treasured. A fascinating peep into the workrooms reveals that the talented staff of artisans are using methods that are little changed from the 1930s.

And the injection of new life into the factory, the adjoining shop which reopened in May and the whole Merrythought Village at Dale End, is a grand tale of both fascinating history and hope for the years ahead.

The riverside complex now includes a small brewery, art gallery and the riverboat, so it is a particularly interesting spot along this historic stretch of the River Severn which reflects so much of our industrial past — and happily, of course, a different but equally important industrial present and future. Hereabouts, a future in which teddy bears still play a pretty big part.

Sarah smiles and says: “One of the big challenges is making sure people know we are still here - bad news travels more quickly than good news sometimes, doesn’t it? And these days, it is pretty unusual to find a business that lasts this long, surviving a war and recession and still making teddy bears as they did in the 1930s.”

And how proud they all are of their place in Shropshire’s story. No wonder Oliver, Sarah and the wider Merrythought ‘family’ are determined that on their watch, teddy bears down in the valley will survive and multiply.

Liaison

Given its fascinating history, you can quite see why. The first Merrythought Toys factory was opened in a building belonging to the Coalbrookdale Company. But actually, the liaison which had led to that moment began just after the First World War had ended.

In 1919, Mr WG Holmes went into partnership with Mr GH Laxton and opened a small spinning mill in Yorkshire. The idea was to make mohair yarn from raw mohair which came in from other parts of the world, including Turkey and South Africa.

However, during the 1920s the demand for mohair fabric fell as synthetic fibre began to be developed. But the luck of a lifetime was with them: they combined with another company whose new sales director happened to know the man in charge of toy production at Shropshire’s Chad Valley. Enquiries were made, space eventually rented at the Coalbrookdale Company and a new era had begun producing toys from mohair cloth.

That was September 1930, and they began producing Merrythought Toys.

The workforce are looking forward to a bright future with one of the world’s leading teddy-bear manufacturers.

Mr CJ Rendle of Wellington-based Chad Valley had joined them and taken along a few workers to the temporary premises at the Coalbrookdale Company’s social room.

One of them was Florence Attwood who had worked with designer Norah Wellings, still a name remembered in the industry. Norah later left Chad Valley to form her own soft-toy company in the area but Florence was even more amazing. A deaf mute, she learned design at the Deaf and Dumb School in Manchester and produced the entire range for the first Merrythought line in 1931 — some of her designs are still in production.

So the history is fascinating, the handmade ranges produced over 80 years are superb and, having survived difficult business times, the future looks good.

The bears sell in Harrod’s, Hamleys, at Fortnum & Mason and Fenwicks as well as other upmarket toy shops. In addition, they have long had a great following in Japan and Sarah takes a trip out there this month.

Commissions

Once upon a time the ranges included many soft toys, now it is routinely teddies. Though, as Sarah is quick to point out, they do accept special commissions, like a recent order for jolly hippos which went off to a riverside club in Henley, for instance.

She adds: “The London Gold Teddy was one of the earliest and still sells very well. New ideas from our designers are very popular and customers love to see them, but there is also always a call for the classic designs.”

And, in the newly furbished shop next to the Museum of the River, an appealing teddy face appears from every corner, there is lots of teddy-bear memorabilia, and you are never likely to forget what the great passion is down here.

Apart from more general ranges, the Collectors’ Club is a huge success, with enthusiasts always watching for the next ‘special’. So they produce teddies of distinction like a recent limited-edition Cheeky Broseley Bear. He comes at £121, complete with cap and scarf and authentic clay pipe made by local historian Rex Key at the Broseley Pipe Works, where museum visits led by Rex — who is often called upon by the television and film industries to create authentic period pipes — are in great demand.

And so this area, which has been so rich in industrial might, history and achievement, is still producing wonderful tales from the past, successful stories of today and a promising future.

Merrythought try to always have a summer open day and this year on July 10 it will of course be an 80th birthday party. A well earned celebration of all those glorious, teddy-bear years. Happy birthday, everyone!

• For 80th birthday party enquiries/tickets (£12.50 including lunch) call 01952 433044. The website is www.merrythought.co.uk

Early days: Women at work in the Merrythought factory in the 1930s.