Late one night in 1994, Peter Underhill, an illustrator and Graphic Designer from Coventry, was designing a range of cutesy bears to be printed onto little girl's pyjamas. To clear his head after becoming "All cuted out" he drew his first ever Bad Taste Bear, "Hey kiddies! Here's the chainsaw bear!" He enjoyed drawing it so much that he started putting a list together and drawing and painting bears in "interesting" situations as a release for his twisted imagination. In 1999, the sketches were discovered by Piranha Studios, a leading character giftware company who turned them into collectable figurines. The began with just six figurines on sale in the Gadget Shop - at this stage the bears were being hand-cast and painted by homeworkers in Newcastle upon Tyne. Within the first year the range increased to twelve, and in the months that followed, due to increasing demand, production was moved to a factory and a collectors club was launched to provide a point of contact for the growing hoards of Bad Taste Bear fanatics! Hundreds of collectables and tens of thousands of collectors later and here we are, together, involved in something that we never thought would be such a phenomenon.

Looking to setup a teddy bear collectors club, for members to socialise and hold events and lots more.

General collectors club. Members with a wide variety of topics meeting 2nd Friday of the month for displays , talks and swap nights at The United Reform Church, Moldgreen. Meetings start at 7.30pm. You name it somebody here collects it! (or knows somebody that does)

I'd like to tell you about McBears.com which is our brand new social teddy bear website for artists, collectors and enthusiasts. Join the McBears community for free and start making friends with like-minded people from around the world. As a member you will benefit from having your own personal homepage which lets you share stories, events, photos, videos and discussions with your growing list of teddy bear friends! McBears is YOUR community! We listen to our members and hope to make this the world's best teddy bear network! How do I become part of McBears? 1. First, sign up at www.mcbears.com and create your profile 2. Second, invite your friends and start adding photos, videos, blogs and events! 3. Meet your friend's friends and introduce people to McBears! 4. Enjoy the community discussions, events and experiences! Hugs from McBear

The Pedal Car Collectors' Club (P.C.C.C.) is for collector's, students and enthusiasts interested in the preservation and restoration of old children's (literaly!) pedal cars. The club caters for those who wish to contact suppliers of spares, information, books etc. on the subject...

Once a year we host the international TBAAF Artist Awards ... We provide every collector and enthusiast direct contact with fellow collectors and artists. Each member is provided with their very own detailed and informative profile, where they can share their interest with all other members...

Tracking the adventures of globe trotting teddy bears at www.wheresmyteddy.com