Give your childhood imagination a chance to run wild! After all, there is nothing quite like the joy we experienced as children playing with our toys. But why should this have to stop?
These two wonderful doll enthusiasts have continued their passions into adulthood – and you can do so, too...
WHOLE NEW WORLD
Browsing a local charity shop, something caught my eye.
Poking out the shelves, I saw a mass of bright blonde hair.
Oh my God, that looks like a Sindy doll, I thought.
I hadn’t seen one in years. As a child, I’d loved Sindy – she was the girl next door, stylish and classy but still approachable. I liked her more than the other dolls.
I must have been about four or five when I got my first Sindy doll – a ballerina.
Throughout my childhood, I was promised a new Sindy doll every time I babysat my little brother.
But I took great care of my Sindy’s. I never really played with my dolls – I liked keeping them spotless, so they were always so well looked after.
Only when I was about 12, my mum sold them as I was getting older.
I was devastated but moved on to horse riding and soon loved all things horsey.
Only seeing this Sindy doll in the charity shop, I had to take her home.
Getting home, I washed and cleaned her up.
This is daft, I thought, I should stick her on eBay.
Selling her for around £80, I was shocked at how much I got. But I regretted the sale – I missed the nostalgia. If I find another one, I’ll keep her, I thought.
Looking on Facebook marketplace in early 2020, I saw a bundle of Sindy dolls that needed a little restoration. This involved painting, sewing and changing the doll’s elastics.
Cleaning them all up, I kept a couple I liked and sold the rest.
Having bought the bundle for about £50, one of the dolls sold for £400! And trawling the marketplace again, I saw the turquoise My Fair Sindy outfit I loved as a child.
Can I come and collect? I messaged the seller.
And picking up the outfit, the seller told me she also restored Sindy’s, even changing their hair. ‘I didn’t know you could change their hair!’ I said – I really wanted to learn how!
It’s a safe space for women
Then, lockdown and menopause hit, and I sadly lost my sister.
I needed a distraction and since I couldn’t go anywhere, I gravitated towards my Sindy’s.
Learning to re-do hair, I taught myself to crochet and sew my own outfits, too.
Posting a few snaps on Facebook, my mates loved it.
‘It’s nice to have something fun and pretty to look at on my feed – not just politics or people moaning,’ they say.
And before long I’d even moved my
