The Paddington Trail

Over the course of three weekends in November and December, Pumpkin, Daddy-man and I went bear hunting in London.

 

To be more specific, we were hunting a Peruvian bear in a duffel coat and welly boots.

 

Yes, we were searching for Paddington Bear. More than 50 statues of the marmalade-noshing bear were on display across the city and we had a good time searching for them – mostly. There was a bit of frustration a couple of times when the statues weren’t where the map showed them to be – particularly in the area around Piccadilly Circus – but they were all so wonderfully decorated and who can resist that fuzzy little face?

The bears were put out to coincide with the new Paddington movie and they were also used as a fundraiser for some children’s charities.

 

 

According to the Paddington Trail website, more than 350,000 people used the site to plan their own bear hunt around the city and when the statues were sold at auction, they raised more than £750,000 for the NSPCC, childlike and Action Medical Research!

Many of the bears were decorated by celebrities or public figures – such as Nichole Kidman, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Boris Johnson.

Others had a Peruvian theme, reminding us of the Londoner-bear’s immigrant roots.

And many were just plain fun!

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I absolutely love it when this sort of thing comes to London. I remember the elephants that were around town shortly after we moved here, there were the Wenlocks and Mandevilles during the Olympics and there were the Easter Eggs a few years ago too.

 

The first time I ever saw anything like this was when I went to Seattle with one of my best friends in 2002-ish. They had pig statues all over the city. One was dressed in a neoprene orca costume (it was named “Porca”). There was another that had been reassembled to look like a motorcycle (called “The Hog”) and there was one in a department store window, completely covered in mirror fragments like a disco ball. It was even on a turntable and had lights shining on it from every angle.

 

I think the statues are fabulous. They add a bit of whimsy to the big city – and they certainly brighten up the otherwise grey winter days.

Plus, it’s a lot of exercise, traipsing around the city, looking for bears. We must have clocked in a few miles of walking and we even explored a few streets we hadn’t seen before.

 

Although the Paddington statues have been rounded up and auctioned off now, you can see pictures of them all on the Paddington Trail website – there were so many that I wish we’d had time to see! While you’re there, why not donate to the wonderful charities that the project set out to help?

And, if you love these statues as much as I do, don’t worry – there’s another similar event coming up soon, which I’m SOOO excited about. Shaun the Sheep! He’ll be in all over London starting in March and I’m determined to see as many of those as possible!

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