Name: Trudi Harmon

From: Bournemouth

How long have you been collecting? approx 6 months

How many pins do you own? approx 300

Dare I admit that I have become a bit of a pin head - well I think the answer to that is going to have to be a big fat yes.

It started harmlessly just visiting the London 2012 shop to buy a few pins for my son for Christmas to go with some of his other pins that he has collected over the years as a gift from Santa Mum.

To my surprise I thought they looked rather nice and took a bit of a shine to them. The decorations came down and the stocking put away and some opened presents were left under the tree. So I picked up the two box sets (mascot, guards and police) and told my son I would look after them and keep them safe for him.

I must admit these were my favourite when trawling through the website hence why I purchased them. I forgot about them for a time and I received an email from London 2012 about some new products on their website and that's when that little button got switched on.

The more I ordered the more I wanted. The more I wanted the more research I did. The more research I did I realised there was more to this pin collecting than just buying the odd pins that took my fancy. The wealth of information was huge and I was like a sponge wanting to find out more and more. I did not just have to buy official pins from London 2012 there were actually other places to buy them from and they were not fake.

But there were so many I thought this was mad, where do I begin? Was I about to enter the pinhead world and read all the latest news about new pins and where to get those sought after ones from? The answer I find myself saying is yes!

I knew I would not be able to get to the Games as my disability wouldn't allow me to so swapping wasn't an option and so retail pin sets were for me. I love choosing the next set I want to buy and the buzz of trying to find a complete set especially as I am rather slow on the uptake of pin buying, most have already sold out by the time I got the bug, so the search is much harder but so much more fun.

My favourite pin keeps changing with each set I have purchased...mascot guards to full English breakfast and Union Jack mascots,, Christmas set and then the nature pins. But my all time favourite has to be Wenlock Torch Relay, it is so cute. No doubt this will change with all the new pins that seem to come out daily at the moment. Too many to choose from and too many to buy... and a bank balance dwindling fast! I have just seen at the start of this page that fab pin trading hat I want one please. But shhshh got to go back to mum world again now.

Name: Bernie Straus

From: New York, USA
 
How long have you been collecting? 10 years

How many pins do you own? over 500

I had been sent a ABC TV 1980 Lake Placid pin along with other Olympic pins from a 3rd party broadcaster vendor in 2003. Enclosed was a letter which mentioned the pins by name, except the ABC TV pin.

I had seen earlier a newsletter which had priced the ABC TV pin at $90.00 US dollars. I remember this & thought that maybe the person (admin asst) had sent the pin by mistake.

As the letter didn't mention the ABC TV pin, I wrote back & placed the ABC pin inside the envelope & mentioned about the price as I had seen in the newsletter. (Also ABC did stop broadcasting the Games as they had been doing for many Olympics. It didn't look as though ABC would try to bid again). Maybe this pin was sent by error.

I then received a letter from the admin asst where she "thanked" me for being honest. The ABC TV pin was not enclosed in the envelope only the "thank you" letter was. I'm still very glad I did mail back this pin.

If you remember I did receive from the first letter several other Olympic pins.

Name: Noel Nineham

From: Purley, Surrey 

How long have you been collecting? All my life (40 plus years)

How many pins do you own? must run into around 1000 maybe more

My favourite 2012 pin must be the first time that the 2012 Logo was produced in the Union Jack Form. Before hand like a lot of people I found the colours and the design hard to understand. The Logo was confusing and the pink orange blue and green said little about London or the Olympics...but when I saw the first poster showing the Logo in its Union Jack colours I remember thinking THAT WORKS !

Although it was some months later that the first Union Jack pin went on sale to the public I knew I had to have it. This is one of the pins I used to wear at work and over the years as the Olympics came nearer and nearer it started to mean more and more to people.

There are lots of nice pins issued by Honav in the run up to the Games, but I think that the 2012 in the red white and blue of the Union Jack is a classic. Further versions have been produced as I believe the First Run Issue has since run out, but in any form this is the pin that will always be remembered by me and by others as the iconic Version of the 2012 LOGO.

Name: Andree Bollin

From: Germany

How long have you been collecting? 20 years

How many pins do you own? 1000

I collect Olympic bid pins and years ago I saw a special Chicago 2016 pin on eBay but I missed the end of the auction as I was in hospital.

As I had never seen this pin before I was very frustrated, because the auction price was very cheap.

Three weeks later a pin collector friend of mine phoned me up, and we were talking for a while and I told him about the pin. He laughed and said "I bought the pin!" As he knew that I collect 2016 pins, he told him, "I sent you the pin as a present for free!" - What a joy!

So now to end of the story of why this pin is a special pin for me, the collector friend died in China at the Expo 2010. So this pin is always a little reminder at my collector friend – 'the Pin doctor'.

Name: Mark Blissett

From: Coventry

How long have you been collecting? 4 years

How many pins do you own? 471

One Friday morning I was sat at home and happened to have a Friday off work - not very often I might add. I checked my email at approx 10.30am and I had an email from a guy called Richard at Lloyds bank in Westfield Stratford City, London, stating that on a first come first served basis they would be offering a limited edition set of pins limited to 250 sets.

I immediately booked a train online to London - I might add I live in Coventry. I managed to get a train within the hour to London and thought, great I will get to London in plenty of time before the bank shuts at 5pm.

I was sat on the train and about 2 miles in to my journey at Hemel Hempstead station I found out that the train had come to a standstill and I was sat there for over two hours. It turns out there had been a fatality on the tracks ahead, I thought I was never going to make it to London!

The Gods were on my side as I eventually made it into Euston at 4.10pm it was now a mad dash from Euston to Stratford but I made it with 10 minutes to spare, I was so happy and when I was given the pins in an envelope I was totally overjoyed! I didn't get home till 9.40pm that evening because I had an off-peak ticket but it was an adventure I will remember long after the Olympics and Paralympics.

Name: Jamie Narborough

From: Lewisham, London

How long have you been collecting? 4 years

How many pins do you own? 49

With my autistic brother and just 3 months until the Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony, we visit an Olympic poster exhibition at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. Included in the exhibition is a display of Olympic mascots and of Olympic Pins. My brother falls to the call of the mascots, returns home and orders all 5 of the Beijing set. I however, fall to the world of pin collecting.

After enjoying 2 great weeks of sport, I turn to the laptop and come across the Beijing/London Handover Ceremony pin. This is my first purchase and I quickly decide rather than try to collect all, (as I'm a student), I wish to collect pins that are relevant to me or the ones I find most interesting.

So now, I find myself with a mixed collection that includes the limited Wenlock and Mandeville set, but also pins that portray which test events I have been to or for which events I have been lucky enough to secure tickets for.

Finally, Christmas 2011 approaches and I receive an email, one which states; 'congratulations, you have your moment to shine', I was a London 2012 Torchbearer. As I reflect on the decision, I think to myself would I have been involved enough with London 2012 to apply for this role if it was not for that very first pin I purchased nearly 4 years ago?

I now wear with pride a gold logo pin and next to it, the Wenlock Torchbearer pin, so wherever I go, I can share my passion of London 2012 - the reasons as to why I'm wearing those badges and also why pin collecting has provided me with perhaps the best perspective on the global spectacle as a whole!

Name: Matt Davison

From: Leeds

How long have you been collecting? 2 years

How many pins do you own? 25

I have only got into the pin collection habit in recent years as I have seen the phenomenon at first hand through my job associated London 2012.

I have been involved in some specific London 2012 projects & am also a Gamesmaker in both Olympic & Paralympics - consequently I have picked up a few unusual badges that ordinarily can't be purchased.

I have also already exchanged a few pin badges with visiting athletes & officials when I've been attending Test Events for Boccia, Handball and Athletics. I am hugely looking forward to the potential of doing the same at Games time.

Name: Matt Wilcox

From: Milton Keynes

How long have you been collecting? 3 Years

How many pins do you own? Approx 250

My passion for pin collecting started during the Beijing Olympics, I'm not quite sure how it spiralled into the addiction it has become now, but I wouldn't change it.

For London 2012, I knew Honav would pull out all the stops to create a collection to be proud of, and I (we!) haven't been disappointed so far. The various takes of representing London & Great Britain have been amazing and I can't see what they come up with next.

During my short spell of pin collecting I have met some interesting people (Duncan Goodhew on the train to Westfields Stratford was my highlight), there seem to be many people over a broad range of demographics that have an interest in collecting. Maybe it's the interest in landmarks, traditions of Great Britain or the Mascot pins.

The next challenge for me....keeping up to date with all the new pins that come out!!

WELL DONE HONAV!!