Treasured memories of Looby Loo and a dog called Henry

IT may be a small item of jewellery, a war medal, a prized photograph or a piece of childish artwork. It could be a book, a letter, a piece of furniture or an ornament.

Looking at someone else’s possessions we might not realise which are the ones with most sentimental value, those that stir up misty-eyed memories. Such items can seem innocuous; you need to know the story to appreciate the value.

The most important memento in Lynn Foggon’s life is a knitted doll called Looby Loo, which was made decades ago by her husband’s great-grandmother for his sister Sarah when she was a child. Sarah took Looby Loo everywhere.

When Lynn met Robert and his sister Sarah at the age of 14, the two girls also became very close, and the doll shared many of their outings.

Lynn and Robert married, but tragically Sarah died of cancer at only 32. Five years later the couple named their baby daughter after her. Little Sarah inherited Looby Loo, and she too takes the doll wherever she goes.

Out of hundreds of entries in a nationwide competition run by Bradford-based Hallmark Cards, Looby Loo has just won a competition to find the UK and Ireland’s most treasured possessions. The company launched the competition (prize: a £350 Nikon camera and other goodies) via its Facebook page, and the response was overwhelming.

Treasured Memories, a slide show of the ten top mementoes with details of the story attached to each one, can be seen until August 22 in the cafe of the National Media Museum in Bradford. In an age of so much disposability, it’s heartening to read the list of items that reflect bonds within families and between friends. Tears may be shed into cappuccino, though...

Apart from the doll spanning five generations, the show includes a memory box marking the special relationship between twins, a pair of loafers from an exotic adventure in Vietnam, a bravery medal given to a life-saving springer spaniel called Henry, a well-loved child’s chair passed from one generation to another in a family from Skipton, and a turquoise bridesmaid’s dress.

Perhaps the most poignant contribution is a handwritten card with pink buttons attached. A great grandma was knitting a cardigan for a youngster in the family, and realised she didn’t have enough of the heart-shaped buttons needed to finish it off. She delivered the cardie, then went off to buy more buttons, which she dropped through her grand-daughter’s letterbox. Great grandma died shortly afterwards. The great grand daughter is now 29 and the pink buttons have been kept for a cardigan for a daughter she may have in the future.

“I must say I did shed a tear at some of the stories,” says Emma Bragg, who rejoices in the job of being ‘Head of Emotion’ at Hallmark. She was on the judging panel in the treasures competition.

“The things people prize are so different - one man’s entry was his Sega Megadrive console. What the mementoes give is a further insight into real lives that’s different to the market research we do. One of the most outstanding features of the competition is the expression of feelings between different generations. Another was that almost none of the items were worth much in money terms. It’s all about emotion.”