This has been one of the most exciting days of my life!
After a 6 am start to the day I was outside harrods in London before 8 am to watch the Christmas Parade. It was truly magical, with
snow included! I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time and saw the representatives from Ty Europe there watching. They
kindly posed for a photos for me and were obviously enjoying the parade. Then along came the owner of Harrods, Mohamed Al Fayed. He was
so friendly and gave out sweets and hugs to the children nearby.
Once the doors opened at around 9.15 there was an almighty rush to get up to the Toy Kingdom. Santa's Grotto was also opening today and
there was a huge queue expected. Luckily many people were going to the Grotto rather than to the Toy Kingdom itself and I was able to
get Stardust with one of he limited edition of 500 certificates (hand signed by Patricia Roche, head of Ty Europe) Photos attached show
the display bear (on sale for £650 - sold quickly but orders could be placed!) and also the parade version of Stardust.
I was hoping that Mohamed Al Fayed might show up or - in my dreams - Ty Warner himself - but apart from the friendly Ty Europe group,
nobody else was there. After hanging around for a very long time I gave up and went for a stroll around the store.
Just as I was on the point of leaving the Food Hall to go home I spotted the very people that I had hoped to see! There, walking
through the bakery were Patricia Roche, Mohamed Al Fayed...and Ty Warner!
Luckily for me, Patricia Roche made the introductions and verified that I was hoping to get signatures for CHERISH. Upon hearing that
Ty Warner readily agreed to sign Cure and Mohamed Al Fayed signed Stardust! They also posed for photos - I have attached the one of me
with them. I do not look at my best, but if you had Ty Warner's arm around you, I don't think you would be acting normal either!!!
Once I had stopped shaking enough to tag protect the bears and put them safely in their Harrods bag, I went round to the main door for
my husband to take my photo outside. Would you believe it, but just entering the store was Eric Sykes (a veteran British comic actor)
- and guess what? He signed another Stardust for CHERISH!
All three of these special bears will be going on auction once they have received sufficient publicity to ensure that they make as much
money as possible for Cancer Research.
The auction date(s) will be announced at a later date.
