Paddington Bear Trail

On Friday our Spinebreakers visited London to take part in the Paddington Bear Trail. More than 50 bears, designed by musicians, politicians, film stars and presenters, have been placed around London to celebrate the release of the new Paddington film and to raise money for the NSPCC.

 

Our Spinebreakers started their search as soon as they boarded bus 23 from Liverpool Street. The first bear was found in front of The Royal Exchange.

 

 

R; G; B

Architect, Zaha Hadid designed this Paddington using bright colours to represent the whirlwind of options available in London.

 

When we departed the bus at Charing Cross Station we headed for Trafalgar Square. As we made our way to Nelson's Column we spotted Paddington on the side of a London bus!

 

 

Bear number two was found just at the top of the steps near the entrance of The National Gallery.

 

 

 

 

The Bear of London

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has designed this Paddington to display a few of London's iconic landmarks and figures.

 

The next place on our map to visit was Leicester Square, where we found bear number 3. This bear was placed just outside the Odeon cinema.

 

 

Blush

Oscar-winning actress, Nicola Kidman, has created this Paddington. She brought him to life with this elegant, luxurious and beautiful design.

 

The next Paddington was located just near Ridley's Believe It or Not, Piccadilly Circus.

 

 

Paddington the Explorer

Natasha Crump, general manager at Ripley's Believe It or Not wanted this Paddington to represent Robert Ripley's love of exploring the world in the search for the 'unbelievable'.

 

The next bear was hidden away in Regent's Streets' Hamleys store.

 

 

 

 

Bearer of Gifts

Author of the Paddington stories, Michael Bond, bought a teddy-bear from Selfridges on Christmas Eve 1956 and gave it to his wife Brenda as a gift. They named the bear Paddington because they lived near Paddington Station. Michael went on to write many stories about Paddington's life.

 

Despite the rain, we carried on our hunt along Regent's Street up to Oxford Street, where we found our last bear. We were surprised to find our bear surrounded by a steelpan band, who were raising money for the children's charity, NSPCC. The music was brilliant, and lifted our spirits after a short down-pour. Ramone and Adam enjoyed themselves as they danced along to the music!

 

 

Bear Humbug

This bear was designed by 'I'm a Celebrity' presenters, Ant and Dec. They used black and white to represent the colours of their favourite football team, Newcastle United.

 

Our search for Paddington is complete! If you would like to see what Paddingtons you can find take a look at the Visit London web page to download the maps. There are four trails in total - The Christmas Trail, Royal Parks Trail, Paddington in Paddington Trail and River and Historical London Trail. There are over 50 bears to find, but they won't be around for long, the bears will be removed and auctioned to raise money for the NPSCC from the 30th December 2014.