Club members will be familiar with the legendary 'Adventures of Polly Parrot' as posted by one of our members, Pam. The latest adventure involves the 'kidnapping' of Polly, a social media campaign and his subsequent return. Read on to find out more...
I won Polly (“he”, originally Mr Pol E Parrot), in an amusement arcade in Torquay in about September 2003. He sat happily on my work computer till I booked a trip to the USA the following year. My colleague Kenny threatened to steal him while I was away, I said – “well he’s coming with me”.
That started the “Polly pics”, the first in the Grand Canyon, followed by one with Mickey Mouse in Disneyland. Then travels to China, Russia, Egypt amongst others.
His first photos with athletes came the BASC Anniversary Dinner in 2010 at Ettington Chase. Lynn Davies, David Moorcroft and Michael Rimmer were the first to be caught. Polly then came with me to the London Olympics and had more photos at the AGM and Dinner that year with Jessica Ennis-Hill, Martyn Rooney and Charles Van-Commenee.
More sports stars followed wherever I met them, cyclists Sir Mark Cavendish, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey, gymnasts Lizzie Yarnold & Joe Fraser. The other highlights were with Dame Joanna Lumley (in the toilets at the Royal Albert Hall), Victoria Coren-Mitchell some of The Eggheads, The Chasers, the list goes on. And of course more athletes, Linford Christie, Christine Ohorogu, Greg Rutherford then Paula Radcliffe and Steve Cram in Tokyo.
The latest adventure was the “kidnap” by Leo Neugerbauer in Birmingham. I took one picture with Ferranti, who gave him back, passed him to Leo but much to my horror he walked off. I found his coach who promised to find him and ring me the next day. I even managed a quick word with Leo; he said he’d given him to a friend and would get him back to me. Next day, no news, so we started the #GetPollyBack campaign. With help from Roger making a poster, Anne Hegerty messaging journalists, Paula Radcliffe even appealed on her podcast. People I didn’t know on X retweeted, someone found his agents and by bombarding Leo and them with messages I eventually got a response and they had found him. A week later he arrived by DHL, restored to his usual deckchair, or in a Zoom window near you.
