This was one of the most exciting days of my life!
Ty Warner  signed 'Cure' for CHERISH!!!
Read how it happened...

Click here to read about the auction of Cure December 7th - 14th 2003

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 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.

The parade was wonderful and in amongst the jugglers, vintage vehicles and marching bands were giant teddy bears...imagine my excitement when I spotted this one with a Ty tag on its ear!

The parade reached its climax with the arrival of Santa who entered the store ready to take up his throne in the Grotto for the day

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 the limited edition of 500 certificates (hand signed by Patricia Roche, head of Ty Europe)
Photos 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 to sign bears for me.
(Patricia Roche has already kindly signed Pompey and Premier for me - see details of Crackers for Christmas Draw to read about Pompey!)
After waiting around for a very long time I gave up and went for a stroll around the store and to sample the delights of the famous Harrods Food Hall.

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 posted the one of me with them as well. 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!!!

If you're wondering what Ty has in the hand that is holding Cure,
it is the little Peace Beanie sweater that I gave him!

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 were sold by auction to raise money for Cancer Research UK