DODDY the globe-trotting North-East teddy bear has been on his travels again.

The cuddly toy mascot of Dodmire Infant School, in Darlington, often joins parents and friends when they go on holiday and has notched up some exotic locations.

In the year since The Northern Echo last reported on his exploits, Doddy has gone sailing, joined the Army and achieved his ambition of seeing Australia.

The school's headteacher, Maureen Dixon, who uses Doddy's travels to teach the children about geography, said: "What this teddy has done is unbelievable.

"I think he's had a wonderful time, I just wish I was inside his body so I could see all the places he has visited."

Doddy, who has his own passport complete with "official" stamps, joined ex-pupil Keith Pybus as a stowaway on a Jubilee Sailing Trust voyage from Aberdeen to Great Yarmouth.

Following an Army visit to the school, Doddy joined the father of pupils Lucy and Joseph Icke on a camp near Colchester where he was given his own uniform and became a firm favourite with the soldiers.

Doddy has also visited Benidorm, one of his favourite destinations, with the family of pupils Shannon and Bradley Wilson.

But the highlight of the year was a trip to South Australia, with foster carer Wyn Outhwaite, where he visited Encounter Bay, near Adelaide, and made a friend.

Mrs Dixon said: "Doddy came back with a small teddy bear friend and we decided to call him Diddy, because he's smaller than Doddy."

The intrepid bear stopped off in Singapore, before returning to Darlington with more stories for the children.

Doddy sends postcards back from each of his holidays, which are displayed in school, and is in Spain at the moment.

Mrs Dixon said Doddy's travels would continue and is hoping that trips to China and the House of Lords could be in the pipeline.

She said: "I'd like him to go to China and there is a possibility because we've got the Sung family at school and they often go back to their grandma. If they go, I hope they'll take Doddy.