IT was a teddy bears' picnic to remember.

More than a dozen teddies bid farewell to Brighton yesterday before heading off to their new homes. The rare bears are to star at a top London auction following the closure of the Museum of Childhood in The Lanes. They paid one last visit to the seafront before being whisked away by auctioneers Bonhams. Leigh Gotch, head of Bonhams' toy department, said: "We are here so the bears can say their farewells to Brighton. I'm sure they will all find good homes. "It's a real shame the museum had to close. The bears will be split up. It will be quite a rare and impressive sale, particularly strong on English bears. All the bears are so individual." The bears are expected to fetch up to £65,000 at the auction in London in May. Boris, made in 1909 and predicted to net an estimated £4,000, began life as a parting gift from a German soldier to his lover, a Russian gypsy, during the Second World War. Many years later the couple's illegitimate son travelled to Russia to be reunited with his parents. His elderly mother related the hopeless story of their brief romance and gave him the bear as a sad reminder of the family that could never have been. Staff at the former Brighton museum, housed inside Bears and Friends shop in Meeting House Lane, claim lack of support from the council sunk the museum that attracted more than 100,000 visitors in the less than four years. ABrighton and Hove Council spokesman said: "We've advertised the museum free in various tourism publications, ensured we always had leaflets in the tourist information centre and steered tourists towards the museum. "But we can't spend public money on tourist signs advertising all the private businesses in the Lanes."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.