Name: Heather Barton

From: Australia

How long have you been collecting? Since Sydney won the bid

How many pins do you own? 90

My story is of a pin that has been with me since the year of my birth. It is a classic story of a pin languishing in a drawer.

An elderly family friend visited the 1956 Melbourne Olympics bringing back a pin brooch for my grandmother. It was a pressed metal bow with a small leather wallet containing a fold out of hand coloured photos of the venues and John Landy, a famous Australian Olympic athlete. Since it was my birth year, my grandmother put it in a drawer along with the bling I could play with each visit until I was old enough to be trusted to keep it.

For many years it sat in my jewellery box, only opened during Olympic Summer Games. For each Olympics it would be brought in for my school students to handle and dream of attending an Olympic Games. This pin inspired me to believe that my beautiful city would one day host an Olympics.

To my joy, through my work, I was in contact with one of the bid team at Monaco when Sydney won the right to host the Olympics. Upon his return I received a small black background bid pin. My collecting journey had begun.

That Melbourne pin is now the pride of my collection and a reminder of my grandmother's love.