Paddington strikes a chord with everyone
"we have a guest for the night..er..a bear."
He's an explorer in a strange place that he hope he's going to find welcoming
London is so important to him, to the stories
although he comes from darkest Peru he settled in London. The truth is he has
over the years become a bit of an icon
"Grizzly? Not particularly, mind you I haven't seen him in the mornings"
This trail is a wonderful way of bringing that to life. In a way you can be
like Paddington, a great explorer. The Paddington Trail is going to be fifty
bears
all around London in various landmarks, of course iconically at Paddington
station itself.
And there will be trails you can follow to find each one. What's going to happen
with these bears is they're going to be auctioned off
and the proceeds of the auction are going to go towards the NSPCC
The NSPCC is as much part of the fabric of Britain as Paddington has become
The NSPCC are the Mr and Mrs Brown
for children who are at risk of being neglected. We want every child
to have a really wonderful start in life. And so I think its a perfect marriage of a
wonderful charity and an adorable iconic figure
You'll be able to explore the city going from Paddington to Paddington.
This is a great way to navigate London, to see the sights, to follow this bear on his journey
as he works his way through the streets and see all the
obvious tourist attractions; Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square
also some of the alleyways and by-ways that they might otherwise not have gone to
Course you can take photographs of them, photograph yourself with Paddington
you can upload them onto the internet.
Go to the Visit London website. Visit London will be the digital
partner if you like, guiding them through where they are. It would be wonderful for
visitors, it will be a bit of fun for Londoners as well to spot them all around town.
I hope this trail will make people look at London with fresh open eyes