Gail Hughes (UK)

"I didn't have many toys when I was wee so my Pippa dolls were extra special to me. I remember the day I bought my first - Britt with the scarf. I even remember where I was sitting on the bus when I was bringing her home. She was boxed and inside a brown paper bag. I was desperate to get home so's I could get her out of the box. Once she was freed from her box, I couldn't play with her enough (as borne out by the fact that she's now one of the tattiest dolls in my collection. LOL!). I have such happy memories of that that day!!! I continued to buy Pippa friends. The only one I wasn't keen to buy was Gail. I felt she was a bit of a rip off as she was Britt with a different name. However, she had the same name as me - so I bought her in the end. One warm day I was sitting on our front step with one of the girls from next door. We were playing Pippa. She hadn't brought any of hers round but it didn't matter because I had enough for us both. At one point I went indoors to the bathroom and when I came back my dolls were lying on the step but almost all of their clothes etc were gone. She'd taken them. I caught up with her but she refused to hand them back, saying that they were hers. My mum refused to help me get them back because I hadn't seen her take them (and my mum got on well with her mum and didn't want to make trouble). I was really upset but there was nothing that I could do. I eventually moved away. About 20 years later I had a chance meeting with that girl. Even though it had been a long time, I recognised her instantly...and the first thought in my head was "You stole my Pippa stuff!". It was a bit of a shock to realise that, through all that time, I'd never forgiven her. This is a tale of woe but it turned out well. Not long after seeing her again (our encounter fresh in my mind), I moved house and whilst unpacking I found my box of Pippa dolls. Surely I couldn't be the only person who remembered Pippa? I went onto Yahoo and typed in "pippa doll" and found PippaClub. Then I started buying back my original collection. Once I had all of the items that had been stolen from me, it was as if a thorn had been removed from my side - I forgave her. Although it *definitely* didn't seem like it at the time, she did me a favour. I've met fantastic people with whom I'd never have crossed paths otherwise. At PUN I even got my boxed Britt back and every time I look at her, I remember how I felt on that bus."