Hello, my name is Patrick and as you can guess from the
Shamrock on my paw and the slight Guinness tummy, I hail from the Emerald
Isle. So how you might ask how did
a bear who has obviously kissed the Blarney Stone, end up on the other side of
Britain, as a member of Bears Unlimited Norfolk Branch?
Well part of my story was told by boating bear Eddie back in
January 2008. Not a good time to
go boating is January, and it wasn’t a boating trip, but Eddie came over to Northern Ireland, with George and
Yorkie to visit friends of theirs, John and Emily, whom he had been sailing
with in the Greek Isles in 2005
and 2007. On their arrival
at the house in Ballycastle, who was there to greet them but me!
Emily had thought that the boys and girls at BU needed to
experience a bit of Irish Charm and went out to find a fine example. After
searching high and low and interviewing a number of bears, she decided that I
totally fitted the bill and was sure that I would fit in nicely with all her bear
friends.
Emily is an excellent judge of character and she was right,
the four of us hit it off straight
away and, whilst in Northern Ireland, I was able to give them all a fantastic Irish
time, introducing them the best of Irish food, scenery and the finest Bushmills
Irish Whisky and, of course, Guinness!
We had such a good time that I just didn’t want it to
stop. I hesitatingly asked the guys if there might be a space for
me in the Norfolk Branch of Bears Unlimited? Their faces split into big grins, because that had been
Emily’s plan all along; that if my face had fitted, I would head off with them
back to England. No sooner had
they said a resounding ‘yes’ than my bag was packed and I was ready to go.
Within a few hours we were on the plane and off to England
and my new home with the Norfolk branch.
A whirlwind of introductions followed and I couldn’t get over how many
bears there were – I thought I would never remember all the names, and that was
before I met all the Suffolk and
Midland Branch members.
I settled in quickly and have never looked back. While we naturally had many shared
interests, I have taken a great pleasure in introducing my friends to a new (to
them) hobby which, being Irish, is a real passion of mine, and that is horse racing. I was thrilled to
discover that my new home was only 9 miles down the road from the racecourse at
Fakenham. I asked the chaps what it was like and was astounded to hear that
they had never been.
I looked up the next meeting and took everyone along. What
an afternoon we had. I was able to give the chaps lots of inside information
and really opened their eyes to this great sport. After just one afternoon they
were hooked and, as you will know from the main blog, racecourse memberships as
last year’s and indeed this year’s Christmas presents quickly followed.
While horse racing is my main hobby I am also very partial
to some good craic preferably over a pint of Guinness. The Norfolk chaps always
provide a good audience for my stories and never seem to tire of my jokes and
even better, they’re always ready to join me for a pint. They also enjoy
watching my second favourite sport, rugby football. The fact that we support 4
different teams between us, just makes life interesting and a bit of friendly
rivalry does add a bit of spice to life.
Norfolk might be some distance from Ireland, and while I’ll
always be a patriotic Irish bear, I can honestly say I’ve never regretted my
move to Norfolk.
Thanks guys and girls for making me so welcome.
Patrick
