The Mayor's Bear #1

While I was Buckingham Town Mayor, I was invited to open the school library at the new Lace Hill school. I was delighted to of course. I thought I would take along with me a children's book about a Town Mayor. But I could not find one that quite fitted. (So I read them the The Quangle Wangle's Hat by Edward Lear instead.) But I thought then, maybe I could write a book about a Town Mayor. So I did. It isn't published yet. But I thought now might be good time to upload it anyways here. So that people could read it to children during these strange times as another small piece of entertainment. I will be publishing it in chunks (probably daily) for you to read to the small people in your lives. I hope you enjoy it.
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Strumbold, the Mayor’s Bear
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Our story begins and we are introduced to Strumbold and Roxie.

One day, a bear called Strumbold became the Mayor’s Bear. And this is the story of how this stuffed, faded-brown and somewhat ragged bear called Strumbold saved a whole town from losing all hope.

Strumbold is a very rare kind of bear. He is a magimistical bear. He is one of those stuffed bears that can whisper things to you while you are awake. And sometimes, just sometimes, while you are asleep.

Roxie Riverbloom looks a bit like a Russian doll with red hair, rosy cheeks and smooth brown, slightly podgy hands. And a few weeks ago, Roxie was elected Mayor of the town. She was ever so pleased and proud to become the Town Mayor.

Both Strumbold and Roxie live in a small town called Netherneither End. They are about to meet and have an adventure.

Netherneither End is a friendly market town, nestling in the hills and valleys of north Buckinghamshire. It is a very pretty town, with wonderful generous people and lovely shops selling everything anyone could need or want. It has a wide blue river flowing through it and green parks hugging the river on either side.

But a terrible thing has happened: something very important has gone missing… and Roxie does not know what to do. Yet.


Something important goes missing

One day, shortly after being elected Mayor, Roxie realised that she had lost her Mayoral Chain of Office.

“Where is it, where can it be?!” she exclaimed quietly, not wishing anyone to over hear what she said. She had to keep this a secret because it was bad news. Very, very, very bad news. “I mustn’t even tell the children” she whispered to herself.

“What mustn’t you tell us?” said Jessina, who had exceptional teenage hearing, and had just walked in the front door from school. Jessina was the oldest of Roxie’s four wonderful children: Jessina (aged 15), Samalan (13), Jakomin (9) and Roshinara (8).

“Oh nothing, nothing at all! Never you mind!” she said, her cheeks flushing a little rosier than usual.

“I am usually such an organised person” she thought to herself as she sat in the kitchen a few minutes later, gripping a mug of tea very tightly. Indeed, with three jobs Roxie had to be. During the day she helped people book holidays. At breakfast and tea times she looked after her children. And later in the evenings she often had to go to meetings as a town councillor.

She was ever so happy when she became Mayor. And her children were delighted too of course. But this extra job​, (job number four!)​, was a lot of work. And now, six weeks after becoming Mayor, she had lost the Mayor’s Chain of Office. The Chain of Office was very old and very special. Many Mayors over the years had worn it to show to everyone that they were the ‘first citizen’ of the town. People loved to see the Mayor and they loved to see the Chain as well.

“Oh dear, oh dear oh dear oh dear!” she mumbled sadly into her tea, “What am I going to do?”

“You are talking to yourself a lot Mum” said Samalan who had wandered into the kitchen looking for something to eat. “Are you alright?”

“I am fine” said Roxie, telling what adults like to call a white lie. “And what do you want for tea?”

While she heated up some spaghetti hoops and grated cheese on the stove, she couldn’t help thinking about where she had lost it. Or how she had lost it. Or even when she had lost it! The Chain’s disappearance was a complete and total mystery to her.

When her children has disappeared to their bedrooms to sleep, watch TV or do homework, she sat in her wide and comfy kitchen chair (with another cup of tea) and began slowly to lose hope. She crumbled and slouched further down into the chair. She knew she had looked everywhere and anywhere the chain might be. It had simply vanished. Even though ​she knew ​things like Chains of Office can never really just go and disappear like magic… But she was at a loss to know where it might be!

“What am I going to do?”

And she was even more upset because the annual Teddy Bears’ Picnic was happening in three weeks time and she just had to be wearing her chain for that!

Samalan came into the kitchen looking for food, again. “Oh, by the way Mum, I wrote another poem today. Do you want to hear it?”

“Of course, I love your poems”

Samalan fished out a piece of paper from his back pocket.

We worry sometimes

About things we cannot change.

The morning sun shines

Roxie blinked, chuckled and smiled. She just didn’t know how he did this. “I love it” she said “now, time for bed.”

While the sun would rise in the morning, Roxie went to bed later on, still thinking “where is the chain?!!​ It must be somewhere!”

And then the next day, it happened: Mayor Roxie Riverbloom met Strumbold. But how did she meet him? And how did Strumbold help the Mayor find the chain? And indeed how did Strumbold become magimistical in the first place?

Go to part two