Did you spot our personalised teddy bears on ITV’s This Morning?

Merrythought was approached by ITV to make two special teddy bears for This Morning presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, which appeared live during the show.

Roaming presenter Alison Hammond visited the factory in Ironbridge in February 2020 to meet our team and learn how we lovingly hand-make each teddy bear, before having a go at finishing the two personalised bears for her colleagues, Holly and Phil. The bears were then given to them live on air.

Fourth-generation managing director Sarah Holmes, great-granddaughter of founder Gordon Holmes, said she and all the Merrythought staff really enjoyed welcoming the This Morning team to the factory.

“It’s been a fantastic start to 2020 and our 90th birthday year, and we so enjoyed having Alison Hammond and the ITV team join us for the day – there were a lot of laughs had by all!” she said.

Merrythought’s teddy bears are still produced by hand using the same traditional skills that were first adopted when the company started 90 years ago.

“Our team showed Alison every aspect of the skilled 15-stage process and taught her how to bring a Merrythought bear to life," she added.

Holly’s bear was a blonde Henley Bear, with scarlet red personalised stitching on the paw, and a matching red satin bow, whilst Phillip’s bear was a grey Chester Bear, featuring navy blue personalised embroidery, paired with a navy satin bow.