Category Archives: British Heritage

Guide Dogs

By | January 18, 2016 | Categories: British Heritage, Draft, Hampshire
Last month we took Binky on an outing to Southampton to visit The Guide Dogs Southampton Mobility Team. Binky met up with local fund raiser Katie Loucaides plus several guide dogs and puppies. We want to introduce you to Yuri, a guide dog puppy, share with you what we found about this inspiring organisation and let you know how you can help them.Continue reading this article...

The Binky Bear Winchester Walk

By | January 7, 2016 | Categories: Binky Bear Adventures, British Heritage, Hampshire
Binky Bear-Activity Explorer Map-BBA Binky Bear-Activity Explorer Map-BGTL Binky Bear-Activity Explorer Map-BITThe Binky Bear Winchester walk follows exactly the story in Binky's second adventure book, Binky in Trouble. In this story Binky and his friend Dog have an adventure in the historic heart of Winchester. This 90 minute walk will help you explore this beautiful city and take you past the key sights of Winchester College and Winchester Cathedral, The Buttercross and into the muddle of lanes and alleyways that make Winchester such a curious place to visit.Continue reading this article...
Binky Bear Blog Bonfire Night November 5th Torchlight Procession

Bonfire Night – November 5th

By | November 5, 2015 | Categories: British Heritage
Some things seem quite normal until that is, you start to explain them!  Chatting today to my cousin in the US, I was talking about Bonfire Night which is tonight, 5th November.  I was telling him what we were planning to do, what we have done every November 5th since I can remember and why we do it.  So for all our fans, who are not living in the UK and who may be a bit mystified by the hashtag #BonfireNight across all the social media channels today, here is my explanation of what is going all over the UK tonight and this weekend! Sometime back in the time of King James 1st (1605), there were some people (Guy Fawkes and others) who were not very happy with the King and the way he was running things and they decided to blow up the Houses of Parliament - yes the same Houses of Parliament that you can walk past in London today.  In fact they placed a bomb under the House of Lords - it's in the same building. To celebrate the fact that the authorities found out about the plot before the bomb (a load of gunpowder in barrels) actually went off and the King was saved, the people of London lit bonfires and somehow the tradition has stuck to this day.  So tonight, all over the UK there will be towns and villages and groups of friends getting together around their bonfires, which they have been building for weeks in some cases and on which they may burn a 'Guy' which is a straw filled, often pyjama clad effigy of a man and they will let off loads of fireworks.  Traditionally we eat sausages or jacket potatoes and sip cocoa or tomato soup or something a little stronger like mulled wine. Some villages have torchlight processions and the photo on this blogpost was taken by Moira last year in Alresford in Hampshire. Hundreds of people collect at the top of Broad Street and with flame torches (yes real flame torches) they all walk down to our local playing fields for a fantastic firework display based around a massive bonfire. So there you have it; not odd at all!  Have a great Bonfire Night everyone, wherever you are!  And if you have a particular local way of celebrating Bonfire Night, let us know in the comments box below.

Going to the Seaside

By | July 13, 2015 | Categories: British Heritage
At Binky Bear, we've got a thing about going to the seaside.  As a child we spend every Whitsun at Hayling Island and I still have fantastic memories of running along the beach, trailing huge pieces of seaweed, jumping off the breakwaters and edging ourselves slowly into the freezing water of the English Channel. Now I have to get to the coast about once a month at least, whatever the season and regardless of the weather.  I know the beaches in Hampshire well and a few in Devon but how do you find out the best seaside places to go when you are away from your home patch?  You don't want to travel miles, with the kids in the car only to find the beach is really not to your liking or that you missed the really good stretch of sand and ended up on the shingle bit.Continue reading this article...

Summer in the UK: the Summer Fete

By | June 23, 2014 | Categories: British Heritage
There is nothing quite like a village fete!  Every year in the summer months in the UK, hundreds of villages put on their garden fetes.  In the case of our village the fete is held on 22 June in a beautiful local garden where the freshly mowed lawns are dotted with stalls selling second hand Bric-a-brac, books and jewellery: locally grown vegetables and plants and of course the chance to sit in the shade and have tea and cake or a cool glass of Pimms.  For the children, after an ice cream and a run about it is time to sit down and watch the Punch and Judy Show.  What better way to spend a sunny summer's day.  See if you can recognise the special guests on the stage!  Mr Punch please put him down!