 Hello and welcome to the Lost Property Library, a collection of stories created by WrongSomble with the British Library, told by the station master. He's on the platform, blowing his whistle as a train arrives. Next, he's in a carriage, checking the seats and then outside again, checking his pocket watch. Let me tell you a bit more about him. He has a kind, smiling face with short red curly hair and a tidy beard. In fact, he's very tidy all together in his smart, dark blue suit and hat. His tie is a navy and maroon stripe. He bustles around busily as he tells his stories and is helped by children from different schools who have hacked out bits of the stories. He puts a left behind case on our trolley and tries to pull it, but it's too heavy. He smiles as the train pulls away and strolls to his office. With a quick, satisfied glance up and down the platform, he steps inside where a collection of cases wait. A large trunk stands open, full of surprises he'll tell us about. Hello there, travellers. Welcome. Welcome. Now allow me to be the first to introduce myself. Or I am the sti... Oh, well hang on. You haven't happened to see my hat, have you? He's wearing it. He looks inside a case behind the upright trunk, checks his trouser pockets, jacket pockets and finally his head. Oh, silly me. I must warn you, I can be a little bit forgetful at times. Where was I? Ah, yes. Allow me to be the first to introduce myself. For I am the station master. And you can usually find me on the platform of one Paddington station. All aboard! All tickets and passes that they're ready for inspection, please. Oh, sorry. No, don't worry. You won't need any tickets for where we're going today, because today we're taking a little trip to the Lost Property Library. This is the place where all the things that people lose on the platform come to be archived. Caps safe. People are always losing things. They unfolds a folding chair. We keep these lost things safe, because each item has a tale to tell. Well, not literally, of course. I don't think that old umbrella is going to start to speak. No. Because here at the Lost Property Library we preserve the stories attached to each item. He turns a sign that reads the Lost Property Library, so now it says please look after these stories. Within this library you will find all sorts, like suitcases and letters and foreign exports. I collect every item of Lost Property and add each one to my inventory, and the sign above the place where I keep them reads, please look after these stories, from umbrellas to keys and a stethoscope, a wooden leg once, and a golden telescope that he pulls from behind it. Lost tickets and trunks and hats made of suede and once a sandwich filled with marmalade. It's my job to keep safe all these lost stories, to collect them, to file them in categories. Some of them real, some just imagined. Stories from items lost or abandoned. Picking up a pair of black glasses. All bottled, all stumped, and all labelled to find. In the Lost Property Library for all humankind. I think the best way for me to show you what I mean is with an example, and the first Lost Property in question is a bear, a little bear who was found sat alone on the station platform. A bear, called Paddington, who wears a cosy blue duffelcoat, red wellies and a red hat. Paddington grew up a long, long way from here. The station master hangs up his coat in a place called Peru. He flips a fabric map over the trunk to show us. That's in South America. Paddington grew up under the care of his dear Aunt Lucy. Picking up the black glasses again and peering through them. When Aunt Lucy got a little bit older, she went to live in the home for retired bears. And Paddington was sent to live in England. So he packed a case, throwing a small case off to the right, and then stowed away inside a boat. Moving a small wooden boat up and down as if on a stormy sea. Then he throws it out to the left. Before boarding a train. Sitting on a chair. And finally, tucking into his very favourite, marmalade sandwiches. Which he takes out of his hat. A big bite, a puzzled look as he pulls out a small photograph from the sandwich. Only to discover that his Aunt Lucy had sent him a photo to remember her. He smiles fondly at it. And at that very moment, the little bear looked up to see the train pulling into the platform that bears his name. Paddington. Circling the upright trunk is a train track and a small train makes its way around it as the station master blows his whistle. It was on the platform that he was found. With a label around his neck that read, please look after this bear. And this little bear went on to have a lot of adventures. So many adventures. With a lovely family called the Browns, if I remember correctly. Wow, so many adventures. Oh, but it should stay on track. Is that it? Train track? Time for another story. Let's see. He looks inside the trunk, then hops around and spots a large set of keys dangling on a hook. He picks up. Perfect. Allow me to introduce Miss Matilda Hummingbird who was making her way home through a crowded Paddington station on her way home from salsa lessons. Ah, a quick burst of salsa dancing. Miss Matilda was walking home through Paddington station when suddenly she dropped her keys and she didn't realise she had dropped them until she got home. And it started to get dark. Lights come up in her doll's house window. Oh no! My keys! She stood frozen on the doorstep looking up at the house. What was she going to do? Then suddenly Matilda had an idea. If she shimmied up the drain pipe to the first floor bathroom window which was open just a crack she could prise it open and climb inside. Now, you and I both know that that is an absolutely ridiculous plan but Miss Matilda Hummingbird was not to be told. So she decided to climb. As Miss Matilda he steps carefully to lose a pole behind the upright trunk which becomes the drain pipe. Looking up anxiously Miss Matilda grasps the pipe. She was about a metre and a half off the ground when suddenly she lost a shoe. A gold booties dropped onto the floor. And as the shoe hit the ground Matilda suddenly remembered that she was terrified of heights. Wobbling on one leg. But luckily for Matilda at that exact moment the friendly neighbour from next door heard her screams. Are you a robber or what? No, I've just lost my keys and I'm just trying to get inside. So you thought you'd do a good spiderman impression aye? Well I don't know oh just help me please! Luckily for Matilda he did. He helped her off the drain pipe. And he suddenly remembered that Matilda's mother had given his father a spare key for the house and he said oh think that's probably a better idea of how to get inside yeah? Bertie I think his name was. And him and Matilda went on to be the best of friends after that incident. Very good friends indeed. But there was another incident with a secondary pipe and a missing hat but that is a story for another day. Light on an orange umbrella with a frill. I want to tell you the story of the lost umbrella. Oh you will not believe how many umbrellas I find on the station platform. There are loads of them. And when the sun comes back out people always forget about their umbrellas. But this umbrella was found on the platform one very rainy day. He opened the umbrella and in slow motion blue ticker tape falls like rain. Oh look at the label it's all smudged. Oh I can't read it. Oh dear and I can't remember who owned it, how it came to be here or what story it has to tell. That's the problem you see sometimes I get a bit forgetful and things get completely lost. Throw the umbrella off left. For example this photo album filled with adventures but some of the photos have disappeared entirely. And I've just discovered this poetry book filled with poems but look at the pages. Oh there are lots missing. Oh dear oh dear this simply won't do. I've just had an idea. What if you helped me find the lost photos, poems and items to add back into the lost property library. Oh there is a host of activities where you too can contribute to the library of lost things. Oh great and I cannot wait to see all of the fantastic things that you come up with. School children in blue jumpers and red jumpers in workshops with the station master. Farewell travellers. Picks up the open sign turns it to say closed. The sign unfolds to say the end as the station master beams at us. Commissioned by the British Library written and directed by Elvie Piper. Filmed and edited by Leon Furness. Performed by Richard Priestley. Designed by Anthony Jones. Original music by Daniel Mcglade. Lighting by Alistair Fox. Special thanks to New Buelly Primary School. Ingram Road Primary School. Today on Worst Valley Railway, Slunglow.