Part 1 - The Conception

Once upon a time, back in 1989 there live a designer.....his name was Malcolm Bowmer and he lived in St. Ives in Cornwall. Malcolm and his wife Angela gave up their jobs and moved to St. Ives from Nottingham in 1987 intending to set up in business.

Malcolm's first sculptures were mainly British wildlife, owls, badgers, and hedgehogs etc. The studio was the kitchen table, and the workshop was the classic small business environment - the back bedroom!

Malcolm made the sculptures, carried the originals upstairs and made the moulds in the workshop/bedroom. The products were cast in resin, which made the whole house smell of it, their furniture, clothes, even their food! "I was eating a Cornish pasty one night", recalls Malcolm, "and I realised it tasted of resin!".

Eventually they became accustomed to the smell and didn't notice it, but their visitors did!

When Malcolm's sister Karen Bowmer (who is also an Artist) first visited them she was overwhelmed by it "I remember entering the front door and the pong of resin was so great it almost knocked me over! I was "high" virtually the whole week of my holiday, floating around St. Ives with a vacant grin on my face".

In those days Angela hand-painted the casts and Malcolm set off in their battered mini-metro driving around the West Country selling their products to giftshops.

"I remember my first sale" says Malcolm "to a quality glass and china shop in Penzance. Mr. Laity the proprietor, was very kind, giving me advice on Cornish cottages, he even gave me a copy of a book he had written many years before. Best of all he gave me an order!".

"I delivered it a couple of days later, and that night, Angela and I drove over to Penzance in the dark to sneak a look at Mr. Laity's shop to see if our products were in the window. They were! He had given them a really good display and we got a real buzz seeing them set out there".

"Angela and I went back to the car and I'll always remember the moment just before we got in we looked at each other and spontaneously shook hands over the car roof grinning like fools".

"We were in business!".

Part 2 - Eggbert Hatches Out

Following our first order for my wildlife sculptures and Cornish cottages, I drove all over Cornwall and Devon, showing our products, taking orders, delivering them and hopefully, collecting the occasional cheque.

We began to run out of space in the back bedroom, which was our factory, so we asked my Father, on one of his visits to Cornwall, to drill some holes in the wall to fit some shelves, which he duly did.

He went berserk with his Black and Decker and the bedroom wall looked like Al Capone had machine gunned it when he had finished!

Still the shelves went up, and were stacked with hundreds of owls, seals, and little Cornish tin mines.

Before we eventually left that house, Al Capone returned, and filled all his little holes up with Polyfilla.

Around this time we acquired a small shop in an arcade on the St. Ives Harbourfront, and began selling my creations direct to the public. We noticed that people seemed reluctant to enter the shop unless there was someone in already, and when tourists came into our shop, they whispered a bit, as if they were in church. I resolved to make things a little less serious.

On my travels one day, I noticed a sale of shop-fittings, they had a mannequin for sale with a gorgeous female form. I thought we could stand it in our shop and tourists would think it was a real person, and be less inhibited about crossing our threshold.

The price was only five pounds, so I bought it and squeezed the body in the back of our metro. It caused quite a sensation as I drove along with the legs and feet sticking out over my left shoulder! I went home triumphantly with my new woman.

"Er, I bought something today". I said to my wife Angela, just to open the conversation.
"Oh yes, what?"
"You remember my idea to get a shop dummy?"
"Yeeeeeees?" (Very cautious).
"Well I've got one, but there's some good news and some bad news"
She sighed.
"What's the good news?"
"It was only a fiver"
She sighed again.
"And the bad news?"
"It hasn't got a head"

Stunned silence. And then -
"Whaaaat? How can we put a headless dummy..."
"It's alright" I said hurriedly,
I can make a head - and we can buy a blond wig - and no-one will know from the back!"

I made the head, Angela bought the wig, and we called her Lamorna after Lamorna Cove in Cornwall.

We dressed her in one of Angela's jackets, a pair of skin-tight white ski pants that looked as if they had been sprayed on, and installed her in the shop, standing gazing at our products, like a live customer.

She looked sensational from the rear, and lots more people came into the shop feeling less inhibited.

Men, particularly spotted her through the window and sidled up to glance sideways at her. They jumped visibly when they saw her face, which looked like Freddy from Elm Street. Another time, a little boy came in with his mum and announced in a loud voice "That lady hasn't got any knickers on!". His mum bustled him out, because she also thought that Lamorna was real. We had a lot of fun with Lamorna that year.

To keep the humour going, One day I made an egg, cut the top off, and a weird scrawny little bird hatched out. I called him Eggbert.

Part 3 - Eggbert Takes Over

When we first opened our shop in St. Ives harbourfront I made a range of jokey hedgehogs which sold very well. I quickly realized the power of humour - it was great to hear people laughing in the shop. One day I made an egg shape for no particular reason from a ball of wax.

It seemed a nice size, smaller than a hens egg, but it felt 'right'. It seemed an obvious thing to put some cracks in the shell, then I decide to take the top off, like a boiled egg.

Next, I thought it would be good to have a bird emerging from it. I had been watching all the gull chicks hatching on the roof tops around town and was charmed by their scrawny necks and their surprised, almost cheeky expressions, when they were newly hatched.

I modelled a chicks head and neck then shortened the beak a bit, and stuck him into the egg. I liked it immediately but it kept falling over so I flattened the bottom of the egg.

I still felt something was missing, then I saw the eggshell top I had cut off lying on the bench.

I put the shell top back on it's head and I knew immediately I had something special - I couldn't help grinning when I looked at him.

I called my wife Angela (who was at the back of the shop casting hedgehogs) she immediately burst out laughing when she saw it. I decide to call him Eggbert - it just fitted.

He looked very similar to your free collectors piece - without the scroll.

The next day I made a mould from the wax original and cast Eggbert in ceramic resin.

He 'hatched' perfectly from the mould and I painted it with the two colours that we still use today.

Over the next few days Angela cast some more Eggberts and I played around with different colours, adding a yellow beak and blue eyes. I made a couple of other versions (one of which later became "eggraphobic").

Eventually we decided on a 'look' and put one in the shop window. I put a sign on it that said 'Eggbert - the day-old sea-gull chick'.

A lady came into the shop and bought it within minutes! "Angela, go in the back and make some more Eggberts quick!". I said authoritatively. The next day a couple more were ready and they sold just as fast!

We worked out that if Angela went flat out she could make three a day! We sold out again.

We had a board meeting of two that evening and voted unanimously to make a major investment and to double our production capacity - I made a second mould. This was really big business now - six Eggberts per day were cast and painted. We still sold out.

I began to realize that I had a potential winner.

We had another board meeting, a historic vote was taken and decision made to double the size of the range, a second Eggbert was to be conceived!

I made a golf ball-shaped egg and similar cheeky expression on the chick, he became 'Birdie'.

During that year I added six more to the range making eight Eggberts in all.

The following January we went to a couple of South-West trade shows with our other products and the eight Eggberts, and took so many orders for Eggberts we didn't know how we were going to fulfil them all!

It was a wonderful problem to have but it was still a problem! We drove back from Torquay feeling truly eggstatic and a little overwhelmed.

Eggbert was on his way and we were running behind frantically trying to catch up.

Part 4 - Eggbert Goes National/The Breeding of the 5000

We returned from Eggbert's first trade show in January 1989 in Torquay with a bulging order book.

We worked out that Angela, my wife, had to make 5000 Eggberts single handed before Easter! I was to carry on originating new ones and she was going to make the moulds, cast them, paint them, pack them in boxes and deliver them to the shops single handed.

Angela requested a meeting.

We urgently needed to double our work-force. We decided to take a major step and employ someone.

I put an ad in the Jobcentre and in the local paper, the St. Ives Times and Echo. We had loads of applications and the St. Ives Jobcentre kindly lent me an office for the day for the interviews.

From my previous career in personal management, I had an amazing array of scientific selection tests to choose from. I decided to use the mirror test and the elbow test to select the lucky Eggbert employee.

The mirror test is for males.

The elbow test is for females.

And any of you collectors who are involved in interviewing may like to use them.

The mirror test (males)

1. Sit the interviewee in a chair.
2. Place a small mirror face up under his nose as close to the nostrils as possible.
3. If the mirror steams up, give him a job.

The elbow test (females)

1. Stand the lady facing a wall, about two feet away.
2. Ask her to clasp her hands behind her neck with her elbows sticking out forwards.
3. Ask her to step towards the wall and if her elbows touch the wall first, she doesn't get the job!

Seriously, I eventually decided on a short list of two ladies, interviewed them again (and again, and again) and offered the job to Sonia, a young Cornish housewife.

Sonia started work on Monday morning in the back of our shop on the harbour front. We taught her how to cast our little Cornish cottages and I chained Angela to the Eggbert casting bench and slipped an omelette (what else?) and a glass of water under the door at lunchtimes.

Eggbert moved into full-time production at last.

One job that fell to me was 'the smoothing of the bottoms'. (Trust me to land a bum job).

I had to use an electric belt-sander and wear a dust-mask, and I hated it.

The Eggbert necks were quite vulnerable in those days, and the sander was a very violent tool, consequently, the Eggberts heads would fly off with depressing regularity!

"Oh, Flipping Heck" I would call gaily (or something similar with the same initials)
"Another Flipping head has fallen on the Flipping floor.

Laugh - I thought I'd never start!

Eventually the massed ranks of Eggberts lined up, and I set off delivering the 5000 in time for Easter. The very last Eggbert order was delivered at 5:25PM in Plymouth on Good Friday. We'd made it with 5 minutes to spare.

Part 5 - Cavalcade Adopt My Babies

We finally realized that we could not make Eggberts fast enough and started to look at industrial premises in St. Ives with a view to manufacturing on a large scale. We found an empty factory that looked suitable and made enquiries.

We needed a lot of equipment, materials, moulds, warehouse space, vehicles, offices, employees and money!

I had always been attracted by licensing, which means I would let someone have a license to manufacture and distribute Eggberts in return for royalties on sales. I was working on a new Eggbert - CueTee, in the St. Ives shop one Saturday morning and I was listening to Radio Cornwall our local BBC station.

The presenter, Duncan Warren, was interviewing James Driscoll, the creator of 'The Shoe People' children's television series. They were discussing licensing of 'Shoe People' products so I pricked my ears up!

I was just thinking how useful it would be to talk to James Driscoll, when Duncan Warren mentioned that the show was going out live from the harbourfront at St. Ives. I jumped up, dropped CueTee on his beak, locked the shop and ran along the harbour where I could see crowds of people around the Radio Cornwall van.

The interview was just finishing so I went up to James and asked him for advice on licensing.

He was really helpful and offered to come to the shop and have a look. He did, and I showed him the original eight Eggberts. He said immediately "I think you've got a winner!" He kindly spent a couple of hours telling me how licensing worked fro him and offered lots of encouragement and good advice.

There was even some discussion about him and I doing a deal, but subsequently his various television commitments proved too demanding and he wished me luck with the project.

One of the most profound things he said to me was "If you makes Eggberts, you will have a lot of a little, but if you license them out, you will have a little of a lot!".

I had been to the trade gift fair in Birmingham and noted the five big players in the gift trade. Top of my list was a company called Colour Box Miniatures from Scotland. They had a lovely range of cats called 'Home Sweet Home'. They were cast in resin, the same as Eggbert and liked their touch of humour.

There is a super gift shop in St. Ives called Gallery Gifts. I knew that they stocked the Colourbox range, so I went in and spoke to Matthew Stevens, who co-owns the shop with his wife, Jessie.

Matthew very kindly gave me the telephone number and the name of the Managing Director - Peter Fagan. I telephoned and was put straight through to him.

I asked if he was interested in looking at new products "Ye-es" he said in an intriguing way, "we are!" I later learned that Peter and his commercial director, Hugh Dobson, were discussing the prospect of launching a new company to market new products, when the phone rang, and it was me!

I arranged to meet Peter in Bristol, we had a pub lunch and I showed him my eight Eggberts.

He said he thought they could be a successful range and asked if he could take them with him to show his colleagues.

Hugh Dobson flew down to Cornwall to look at our operation and invited me to Scotland for a tour of the Colourbox Factory near Edinburgh. We later finalized the deal in a Bristol Hotel and that was that! Eggbert was to be launched nationally by a major giftware company.

Part 6 - Eggbert Goes National

After lots of marketing meetings with Cavalcade we decided to eggspand my range of eight Eggberts, and to launch the range at the Spring Fair in 1990 with twenty three Eggberts.

Why twenty-three I can't remember, why not twenty four? I think it was because we decided to add fifteen new ones to my eight.

Anyway I handed over my fifteen new 'babies' and they were duly returned as resin whiteware for painting. I can remember staring at the whole twenty three, all newly painted, I had them lined up on top of the fridge (where else?) and I was convinced they were going to be a big success.

Over the next few months a point-of-sale display fro shops was designed and the packaging, and brochures - a single one sided colour sheet with twenty three Eggberts (now quite a Collector's item).

We did a preview at our local Trade Show at Newquay in January and took lots of Eggbert orders. Then a couple of weeks later there was a pre-launch at Torquay trade show, where we took lots more orders and then finally the official launch at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. That is held in February every year and is the most important show in the Gift Trade.

Cavalcade had built the stand as a chicken shack with planks and straw around and the Eggberts really looked at home. My chickens had come to roost and we were taking orders hand over fist.

Everyone likes something new, and Cavalcade was a new company, with a new product, new staff and it all went very well.

The Trade Stand was manned by a mixture of Cavalcade staff and their Sales Agents, these travel the UK, selling Eggberts to shops in designated areas.

I remember looking at my watch on that first day, and it was 4:30pm. I had forgotten about lunch completely (that's not like you Malcolm - Angela) and my feet were beginning to throb in time with my heartbeat. I didn't care, Eggbert's launch was a success and that's all that mattered.

The next day was busy too and that went on for a week. Everyone wanted delivery for Easter - Easter Eggberts! - although that is only half the battle in the gift trade.

A successful Trade Show means that a product is what is termed 'selling in' referring to selling in to shops.

The next hurdle is 'selling out', which means that the public has to like it enough to buy it. This doesn't always happen and there are many product which are launched successfully because shop-keepers buy it but then flop because the public don't.

I went up to Scotland to the Cavalcade factory just before Easter and the first container of Eggberts had arrived, there were 142,000 Eggberts, all boxed, on pallets in endless rows about 7ft high, I wandered up and down the rows, opening and closing my mouth, a bit like a goldfish in a supermarket. I couldn't believe it.

They were delivered to shops all over the UK and to other countries too, because the N.E.C is a truly International event all in time for Easter.

Hugh Dobson, who was then the Managing Director of Cavalcade, rang me the week after Easter and said that Eggberts were flying out of the door of shops all over the UK and that they were all re-ordering. That was the final bit of the jig-saw! We had a success.

Part 7 - Eggbert Goes To America

The successful launch of Eggbert at the National Exhibition Centre meant Eggbert was established in Britain as a winning range.

Around this time Hugh Dobson, who was then the managing director of Cavalcade went to America and did a deal with E.N.E.S.C.O. one of the largest giftware corporations in America, for Eggbert to be made under a sub-license for distribution in the United States.

This involved me in a lot of extra work, designing new Eggberts for the American Market. Their humour is a little different in the States and some of the names I had devised were meaningless to them.

They came up with alternative names which were meaningless to me! We decided it was best to go along with their versions, on the basis that they knew their own market best.

The nurse Eggbert - "Henema" was one which bothered them a bit because the Americans don't like to talk about bottoms as much as we do over here! "That's not our kinda humour, Malcolm" they said. They decided to call their nurse Eggbert 'Duck Pills' in the end. They launched with most of the British Eggberts and many specially designed for the U.S.A. Eggberts began to sell well in the States.

Angela and I went over to Chicago for the launch, and again the following year, Chicago is a great city and we did some sightseeing while we were there.

I am a bit of a computer freak and like to play 'Flight Simulator' which is based on Meigs Airfield in Chicago, so we went up Sears Tower, which is the tallest building in the world. It blew my mind to look down at the same landing strip where I have crashed my plane so many times!

Part 8

Following the successful launch of Eggbert in America, E.N.E.S.C.O., the Company that distributed Eggbert in the USA and Canada came up with some suggestions of their own and some weird and wonderful Eggbert products hatched out as a result.

There were a series of Salt and Pepper Eggberts for instance, pairing related Eggberts. I had done a bowling ball Eggbert whom they called Bowled Over and a tenpin Eggbert called "Lane Duck". These were released as a Salt and Pepper set along with many others. Apparently in the States people collect Salt 'n' Pepper sets a bit like we collect thimbles - they never use them, but keep them in display cabinets.

There were Eggbert picture Frames and Eggbert thermometers and all sorts of other products which we will tell you about from time to time. Meanwhile, back in the U.K., I got a call from Truro Cathedral which is quite near to us. They wanted to Commission me to sculpt a model of Truro Cathedral for presentation to Princess Diana who was to visit the Cathedral. I still take one-off Commissions as well as making new Eggberts so I set to work.

Truro Cathedral is an incredibly complex building full of buttresses and intricacies and it took many sketches and photographs before I'd got it all down and could begin work.

The model was quite miniaturized (only 5" high) when finished and it took about 3 months (in between making new Eggberts!) to complete the original.

I went to a local clockmaker in Falmouth - Peter Benson, and he found a beautiful piece of ash which he made into a base for the model. Another Cornish craftsman - Eric Tregenza engraved the brass plate for me and we delivered the completed piece in a silk-lined box.

Angela and I received a special invitation to be present at the ceremony. So it was the Best Suit time for me and Angela bought a new dress and handbag and shoes (You know the game fellas!).

Princess Diana was duly presented with the model and said "Thank you very much" - I expect it is still sitting in the centre of the mantelpiece at Highgrove to this day.

Or perhaps the Princess liked it so much that she took it with her to Kensington Palace. Or perhaps there will be a custody battle over my model! They could have half each, That would be fair!

I was tempted to slip a couple of Eggberts into the box with a blue joining slip for the Eggbert Collectors Club but I thought I'd better not. Shame. It would have been nice to have "By Royal Appointment" on all the Eggbert Boxes.

Anyway now you can tell all your friends that you and Diana have something in common - you both own a piece of my work!

Part 9

Soon after the presentation to Princess Diana (see the Eggbert Story - Part 8) Angela and I decided to get married! We had lived in Cornwall for five years and agreed it was a long enough probationary period.

We wanted to get married somewhere unusual and thought that the little Chapel on the island of St. Ives would be ideal. If you have been to St. Ives, you will know it is only a tiny building, and we could squeeze in our close family and friends (and Eggbert) for the ceremony.

I spoke to the Father at the church about it, but there were obstacles about consecrated ground etc. and it just wasn't possible. Nowadays of course, you can get married almost anywhere, thanks to recent legislation, not not at the time.

We were due to visit Chicago for an Eggbert Trade Show, and had planned to go to Disneyworld in Florida after the business bit was done, so I made some calls to Florida to see if it was possible to get married over there. Yes is was. "No problem, just bring along your birth certificates and divorce documents" (We had both had a previous marriage).

We had a few days in Chicago, and it was really exiting to see the new Eggberts on display at the Tradeshow. I had a photo session with the Public Relations people and then was interviewed by the lady P.R. Director who wanted an 'in-depth' profile of Eggbert's personality!!

P.R.: "Now , Malcolm, how do you see Eggbert, in human terms, as a person?"

Me:"Weeell,....I see him as a cynical little bugger".

A little cloud of consternation crossed the lady's face. (This was because the Americans like their giftware to be kind of sweet and cutesy)

P.R.:"Ah, Malcolm. Er...Can we say amusingly cynical?"

Me:"Yes, of course".

The interview went on like this, with a slightly differing view of Eggbert from either side, but I was happy to go along with how they wanted to portray and market Eggbert, because I felt they were the experts in their own country.

Afterwards, they took us for a super meal, to discuss new Eggberts, and we had Ben and Gerry's Cookie dough Ice Cream for desert. This was the best ice-cream I have ever tasted, it has bits of cookie dough in it. (Can you remember when your mother used to make cakes when you were young, and you were allowed to eat a blob of the cake mixture off the end of your finger? Yes? Well that's what cookie dough ice-cream tasted like - all sweet and Mmmmm...)

Anyway, afterwards we flew from Chicago O'Hare Airport to St. Louis where we met the worst air turbulence I have ever experienced. Now I am the sort of person who gets sick on bridges, never mind boats, so you can imagine what I'm like on planes!

The aircraft shuddered and banged, then dropped vertically a few thousand feet and I became convinced we were going to see my Ben and Gerry's Cookie Dough Ice-Cream again.

I started to pray, because I always believe in God during strong air turbulence, then we started our descent to St. Louis and things got a little calmer. Waiting for our next flight, in the airport, my legs were like jelly and started to calculate the cost of getting a taxi to Florida!

Gradually I felt better and we flew on to Florida without incident.

Part 10

We were in Chicago for the launch of the USA Eggbert range, and after a few days flew to Florida to get married! The rest of the trip was to be our honeymoon.

We were booked into the Holiday Inn on International Drive in Orlando, which is close to Disneyworld. We didn't like the room, which was in their annex, so I went to reception to try and get us moved. "No way, Sir the Hotel is full". I offered to pay more - "Sorry, the Hotel is full". I told the Receptionist we were on Honeymoon. That did it! She softened a bit, consulting the computer, and gave us a room in the 'Tower', 17th floor, great views, no extra charge.

The next day we went to Orange County Courthouse and filled in the appropriate forms and obtained our Marriage License. This meant we could get married anywhere in America by producing the License. We decided that there was no time like the present, so we asked the lady Registrar to perform the ceremony in the Orange County Courthouse.

Afterwards we came out and asked a passing lady to take our wedding photograph with my camera.

In the evening we'd booked a table at the Ran Getsu - a swish Japanese Restaurant - and had Alligator tail as a starter! I imagined it might be around four feet long and sort of still thrashing about, but it was in bits, like chips in batter, and tasted like chicken. We had a super Japanese meal to round off a memorable day.

The next day we went Eggbert spotting in the shops and saw lots, I couldn't believe I was in America, looking at my 'babies' in American shops. I kept wanting to sidle up to shop assistants and say "I made those!". but I was afraid they would think that I was an English nutter, so I kept quiet.

We saw some more Eggberts the next day in Sea World, where they have this amazing glass tunnel at the bottom of their shark tank, where you walk along the 'sea bed' with huge sharks swimming around you. It was silent and green, very low light, and I thought it was great, and as we came out I said so.

"Hmm," Angela said "It was OK." I was amazed, "What didn't you like about it?" I said. "Well, it was so dark, I could hardly see anything" she said and scrambling in her handbag. "I've lost my sunglasses!". "You're wearing them" I said. "Oh!". We both suddenly realized that Angela had passed through the dimly lit shark tunnel with her dark glasses on! No wonder she wasn't impressed.

During the next week we did Disneyworld and the E.P.C.O.T. Centre, which I thought was the best of all, and it had nothing to do with the fact that they sold Eggberts in the E.P.C.O.T. honest!

Part 11

A couple of years ago, the amount of mail that Colour Box was receiving for Eggbert was increasing all the time, so I had a meeting with Frances Fagan the Marketing Director, who was overseeing the long established Colour Box Collectors Club at the time, and we agreed the best way forward was to form a separate Eggbert Collectors Club.

I was quite keen to run it from our base in St. Ives as I felt we could give members a very personal service, and originally it was something Angela was going to do in her spare time (what spare time?!! - Angela).

Francis duly arranged for the little blue insert slips to go in every Eggbert box, and the first ones started to trickle in, then flow in, then pow! An avalanche of blue slips came back every day in the mail.

Angela busily typed the first few hundred into our computer - a trusty Amstrad 286, but the database was struggling with the shear amount of mail and was very slow. We decided to buy a new computer - a 486 from Tony Argyrow or Orchard Computers who was already a keen collector.

This was much faster, but we had a problem converting the old database into the new one and were afraid of losing all your names and addresses. Graham Morris a friend and fellow computer freak, helped us by typing in loads of addresses and helping me to set up the new database.

I said "Graham I want to stretch this drawing of a world until its egg-shaped". "No problem!", he said, and went away, reappearing next morning with a disk with the Eggworld on it and a few hundred more addresses typed out. That's his computer graphic on the cover. (His wife, Ann, tells me that Graham even reads computer manuals in bed - now that's dedication!). They have a young son - Grant, so Graham must have put the manual down at least once.

I began writing articles for the first issue of the magazine and bought a desktop publishing program for the computer to help with the layouts.

By this time, we had several hundred names and addresses, a pile of blue slips, loads of letters, a new computer, new printer and stationery, but Angela was running out of hours in the day, I had fresh Eggberts to lay and Graham knew he'd have to go back to Ann, eventually.

We put an ad in our local paper the St. Ives Times and Echo, for a secretary/administrator and had loads of replies to that too.

After a lot of interviews, I selected a lady - Sue, who was the manageress of the local Cornish pasty shop (obviously a carefully thought out career path, there) and the Eggbert Collectors Club finally started to hatch.

We needed a free collectors piece, so I modelled the Eggbert with the scroll which was similar to the first Eggbert I ever made and the set was complete. Sue processed words, Angela administrated, Linda (who was with us from way back) painted your free pieces and I modelled.

We have gone from strength to strength since then, of course, and I am just about to begin your fourth free collectors piece for 1997.

Today, we have Heather, who nips into the office between holidays, Barbara, just back from Euro-Disney and shortly to leave for Brittany, and Linda who has never had a holiday in seven years, and even came in on Christmas day to paint the 2 Meggabyte master figure. Aaah!

A big thanks to all of you early members who were with us during our incubation period, and a big welcome to all the new members who join every week. (You lot in the middle are OK, too)

Part 12

We are almost up to the present day now with the establishment of the Eggbert Collectors Club.

In the last issue I recalled how we set up the club, although so much has happened Eggbert-wise since then.

Once we were up and running, we sent out a questionnaire to get members views, and one of the most popular requests was for a special Members Only Collectors piece. The survey showed that most people wanted a bigger piece so we decided to release Eggloo, as he had generated a large postbag when he was featured as a 'one that got away'.

Eggloo was a piece I originally sculpted for the American market where outside toilets are a standing joke (or should that be a sitting joke?).

Every year, it is one of the most difficult choices, because I always feel that the members only piece should not be related to any particular sport, hobby, or profession.

This is hard, because of course, I spend my working life fitting Eggberts into areas like that.

I decided on 'T.V. Bert' last year because almost everyone has a TV, and it's not job related.

This year I have picked 'birdbath' as the Special Members Piece. Everyone has a bath (eventually) and it's not related to anyone's job or profession, (apart from Playboy models).

I was modelling the original at the recent Eggbert Promotion at Darlington and Patti, one of the co-owners of Harpers & Lythe, the shop the promotion was in, asked me what I was going to call it. I said I hadn't got a name yet, which is unusual - because I like to have the name first, as a rule, before I start modelling.

Anyway, Patti paused for a moment and said 'Birdbath' - just like that! I liked it, so here he is, for your delight, the cleanest, wettest, Eggbert in the world - 'Birdbath'.

The bit I like best is when I have finished the basic piece and can start adding lots of little details. So, next came a sponge, rubber duck, soap, soap-suds, plug, eggcetera. Someone in the office, mentioning no names, not even Barbara Sachak, said "Why is the bath still full if the plug is dangling over the back?" and quick as a flash Heather said "because both the taps are still on".

Finally I put in a few more bubbles and that was that. Then Lynda said (talk about back seat modellers) "Why not have a shark's fin cutting through the water?".

I thought that was reasonable, most people have a shark in the bath don't they? So I modelled a shark's fin heading for Eggbert's nether regions and finally added a few more bubbles behind him because, quite naturally, he had the wind up about the shark.

Birdbath will be the Special Member's Only Club piece for 1997 from October 1st 1996.