Disgust as shop sells gollies

Oct 19 2007 By Juliet Eysenck, the Journal

GOLLIES sold in a North-East high street have sparked a race row.

Cards ’n Candy, a greetings card and toy shop in Gateshead High Street, displays the controversial children’s toy in the front window.

The shop started selling them a month ago and says there has been a demand for the toys.

But Tyne and Wear Anti-Fascist Association spokesman Mike Hartman said: “We are appalled to think that, at the start of the 21st Century, these items can still be obtained in Gateshead.

“Selling such rubbish does nothing to enhance the image of the town as inclusive or welcoming.”

Katherine Goldsbrough, who has worked for Cards ’n Candy for seven years, said: “We get them in and then they fly back out off the shelves.

“Customers were asking for them, and they are now back by popular demand.

“We did sell them many years ago, but found it hard to find places to buy them from.”

She said that although they could be considered racist, the shop had received no complaints. She said: “I know racism happens but I’ve never come across it.

“I’ve been brought up with gollies.”

The gollies are priced at £3.99 for small and £9.99 for large. The shop also sells mugs with a golly icon for £2.99.

Labour councillor Bob Goldsworthy, of the Bridges ward, Gateshead, said: “People need to realise that they can cause genuine offence.

“It’s not against the law, but I believe that gollies are something that belong to a different era. I am surprised to see that they are coming back.

“We have people from
many different backgrounds in Gateshead, and racism should not be an issue.” A Northumbria Police spokesman said the selling of golliwogs was not illegal, and no complaints had been received about the shop.

If a member of the public complained, the shop would risk breaching race hate laws if it then failed to remove them from the window.

A shop near Manchester, Stalybridge Reproductions, was recently ordered to remove golliwogs from a window
display.

That shop’s owner Moira Pickering was warned by police it was an offence under the Incitement to Commit Racial Hatred Act if she refused to remove them, and further complaints were made.

The golly, a children’s literary character from the 19th Century, is seen as a collectors’ item by some, but others consider it racist.

The dolls’ racist imagery sparked debate in the 1980s, leading jam manufacturer Robertson’s to remove the golly mascot from its labels in 2001.

The Gateshead gollies are supplied by Lesser & Pavey, a company in Dartford, Kent.

A spokeswoman said: “We have been making gollies for over a year. We have sold hundreds and hundreds of them”.