In the run up to Christmas, London was taken over by life-sized statues of the world’s favourite furry Peruvian explorer designed by a host of celebrities and artists as part of The Paddington Trail, sponsored by Barclaycard. STUDIOCANAL, VisitLondon.com and the NSPCC revealed that the public art installation created to mark the release of PADDINGTON in cinemas has raised over £930,000 for the NSPCC’s ChildLine service.
Other statues were auctioned online by Christie’s, giving people around the world the chance to bid for a chance to own a piece of The Paddington Trail. The auction attracted heated bidding with Boris Johnson’s ‘Bear of London’ eventually going to a bidder in East Asia for £32,000. Other favourites were Liam Gallagher’s ‘Parka Paddington’ and Chelsea FC’s ‘The Special One’, both of which went for £13,000. In addition to this, residents of the town of Fleet in Hampshire were successful in their bid to own a piece of The Paddington Trail, securing Ant & Dec’s ‘Bear Humbug’ following a crowdfunding campaign supported by the local community.
Whilst The Paddington Trail was live, Boris Johnson’s ‘Bear of London’ was the third most popular, behind David Beckham’s ‘Golden Paws’ and Benedict Cumberbatch’s ‘Sherlock Bear’ which was the most visited profile on www.visitlondon.com/paddington*. And as Paddington fever hit the capital, social media was buzzing with mentions of #PaddingtonTrail, with the campaign reaching over 37.5m Twitter accounts – more than the population of Peru. A map of The Paddington Trail was downloaded over 90,000 times, and pages on the microsite were viewed over 2.2m times, demonstrating the Trail’s popularity.
NSPCC Chief Executive Peter Wanless said: “The Paddington Trail captured the hearts of Londoners and visitors alike in the run up to Christmas, and we are absolutely delighted to have been a part of it. Thanks to Paddington fans around the world, The Paddington Trail has raised over £930,000 – a fantastic result. This will help run our ChildLine services enabling our trained volunteers to answer hundreds of thousands of contacts from children. It will also allow us to update and modernise our services so children can contact us more easily and quickly online wherever and whenever they need us. Through ChildLine, we are giving children someone to turn to in the same way as Mr and Mrs Brown were there for Paddington.”
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “The Paddington Trail was a charming addition to London’s streets and I am thrilled that my Bear of London and his assorted friends have raised such a fantastic amount for ChildLine. As Paddington embarks on his next adventure to a new home, the one thing that we can be sure of is that he has packed enough marmalade sandwiches to keep him going.”
Singer and Strictly Come Dancing runner-up Frankie Bridge said: “I’m so proud to have been a part of The Paddington Trail and it’s wonderful to hear that it has raised so much money for the NSPCC and its ChildLine service. I hope that my bear will be very happy in his new home, with plenty of marmalade sandwiches on offer!”
The money raised will help trained ChildLine volunteers provide advice and support to children 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, some of whom are going through the toughest times of their lives. The money will also help continue to modernise the ChildLine service to reflect how children now prefer to get in touch.
If you enjoyed exploring The Paddington Trail and would like to support the NSPCC, text BEAR to 70744 to donate £4 and help answer a call to ChildLine**.
Intrepid explorers who took part in The Paddington Trail can download an exclusive certificate from www.visitlondon.com/paddington
