|  |  | |  | | As our very first collector on the site, we were delighted to feature a real Paddington afficionado from England.
 Hi there!
My name is Su, and I have been collecting Paddington since the early 1970's.
The very first bear I bought, having saved my 5p's for it, was a Gabrielle which came from Clement Jocelyn in Bishops Stortford. Having bought locally, I was able to personalise his outfit- red wellies, green duffle coat and an orange hat!
The collection has grown steadily ever since. I went to college in London and was fortunate to be able to visit the Paddington & Friends shop in Crawford Place, although I often bemoan the things I didn't get at the time.
My son and I were members of Paddington's Action Club, and that allowed us to buy, and sometimes win, a variety of items not readily available elsewhere.
Although I have quite a number of furries, including a few Gabrielles and many by Eden, a lack of space has led me to concentrate on the smaller items, such as the various figurines that have been made, videos, postcards and jewellery items. I am still hoping to find some of the early jigsaw puzzles that I haven't got.
I have over two shelves of a large bookcase devoted just to Paddington books, ranging from the original stories through to the current "picture" and "activity" formats.
 It would be impossible to single out my favourite item in the collection, apart from that very first bear, but he and my hand-knitted Paddington (pictured on the left) would probably be first out of the house in any emergency!
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Su from England
