Teddy bear window brings some festive cheer to Clifton

Designed to put a smile on the community’s face, the window is the brainchild of retired nursery school teacher Jacky Meinke.

The inspiration was a combination of the first lockdown and an alternative Easter egg hunt.

‘At the nursery I worked for, instead of having an Easter egg hunt, I instigated doing a fluffy bunny hunt because I didn’t approve of the children eating so much chocolate,’ said Mrs Meinke.

‘All year I collected rabbits from charity shops until we had about 30. And then we used to hide them in one of the parents’ garden, which was massive, and then lockdown hit and Easter was cancelled.’

Left with all of the rabbits, she decided to put them in the window and created an Easter scene. As the seasons changed, she decided she could not just leave the window bare. She bought numerous teddy bears from charity shops and created spring, summer and winter scenes as well as maypole dancing, Halloween, back to school, Remembrance Sunday, and a special nativity scene last Christmas.

‘When it was Liberation Day, the teddies were all waving Union Jacks,’ said Mrs Meinke.

When the second lockdown took place, Mrs Meinke popped masks on the teddies’ faces.

She buys clothes for the teddies from a specialist shop and her grandchildren also give her clothes that fit their own toys.

‘I do it just to make people smile,’ she said. In return, many people pop thank you notes through her door.

Not one to sit still, she has also painted pebbles, which are free to take away. There are plenty of angels, kings and sheep, but Mrs Meinke said that lately Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus have been the most popular.