Collector Karen Colley is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Sindy doll with an exhibition at Chippenham Museum.

Mrs Colley was seven years old in the 1970s when she fell in love with Sindy, a doll created by the British company Pedigree in 1963 as a rival to the America’s Barbie.

She rekindled her passion after seeing two Sindy dolls at a car boot sale and now has more than 100 stored in her daughter Lauren Webb’s old room and the loft.

Mrs Colley, who is head of student liaison and enrichment at Wiltshire College, said: “I was previously collecting a doll called Pippa. I just remember seeing these two Sindy dolls and thinking ‘maybe I’ll change tack’.

“I must have been about seven when I had my Sindy doll and I just remember it being the best Christmas present ever. She’s one of the only ones I haven’t tried to restore - I just don’t want to mess with her.

“Every time I let people see my collection they can remember their first doll.”

The exhibition has the full support of Sindy’s manufacturers Pedigree, which has loaned Mrs Colley some special dolls for the exhibition.

It will include a display of Sindy fashions, showing how she has evolved through the ages, and a cabinet of Sindy brides.

Mrs Colley said: “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous because I want it to be well received.

“I think that the image of Sindy for young girls particularly is more real than Barbie. She doesn’t have a two inch waist– she’s well proportioned.”

Museum curator Melissa Barnett said: “It ties in with our exhibition, the changing roles of women in the 20th century, as Sindy has grown and changed herself.”

It is in the Chippenham Museum from September 2 to November 2.