This is the story of Barney Bear, who now lives at The Trafford Centre in Manchester.
Barney started life in the circus.
Barney loved his life in the circus…
he sang and told jokes!
He made the children laugh…he made the adults laugh…and he made the other animals laugh!
They laughed until the tears ran down their cheeks.
Then one day a terrible thing
happened…
the ringmaster gathered the
animals together and told them
the news!
“I’m off to Spain” he said. “I’m
retiring to the sun with my wife
and pet alligator. I’ve bought a
villa with a pool, and I leave on
Thursday!”
All of the animals were very sad.
“What about us?” they asked.
“Ah!” smiled the ringmaster. “I’ve
been in touch with the local Job
Centre and have found most of you
new jobs…”
“Gerry Giraffe… you will clean windows”.
“Sammy Seal… you will be a lifeguard”.
“And Hercules the elephant…
you will build rockeries”.
“Unfortunately, there’s only one animal I can’t find a job for” said the ringmaster,
“and that’s you Barney, there are no vacancies for a bear who sings and tells jokes I’m afraid”.
“You’ll have to make your own way in the world.”
That night, Barney cried himself to sleep.
“What shall I do?” he sniffed. “Nobody wants me, all I can do is sing and tell jokes. I like making people happy” Barney sobbed, and as he fell asleep, he thought of
all the jobs he would like to do.
He thought about being a policeman... or a famous
chef...or even a musician..
The next morning Barney waved goodbye to his friends and left the circus. He headed for the nearest town.
End of Part 1 - Part 2 in the next story!