It’s now or never - Elvis has to go
The moment Donna Hardy first heard an Elvis Presley song her life changed forever.
‘‘I heard one of his songs, Suspicious Minds, and I asked who sings this?
‘‘I fell in love with that song, then I found out it was Elvis Presley and I fell in love,’’ Hardy reminisced.
‘‘I said: yep, he’s my hobby.’’
Now, packed inside a small single-bed spare room in Hardy’s New Plymouth home is an Elvis Presley shrine, filled with every piece of memorabilia you can imagine.
Elvis clocks, number plates, plates, pillows, dolls, paintings and far, far more can be found in the room – ‘‘you name it, I’ve got it’’.
But, to the self-confessed Elvis fan’s disappointment, she is having to cut back on her collection of 15 years and let her biggest possessions go: two full-size Elvis models.
Hardy is selling the Elvis cut-outs – one that used to say ‘‘thank you very much’’ until its batteries died, and another that has been folded away nicely for decades – for $50 and she is devastated to see them go.
But the one that used to talk, which Hardy has decorated with jewellery, has to be moved every time someone wants to access the bedroom cupboard – which also holds more Elvis memorabilia.
‘‘I’m running out of room,’’ Hardy said with a sigh.
‘‘I have to keep moving it. I asked do I [sell them], don’t I? But something has to go.
‘‘I know it will go to a good home.’’
Despite the fact Hardy had an Elvis Presley shirt she used to wear to school, and he died on her 15th birthday, the 55-year-old’s love for the king started about 20 years ago.
She can’t pick a favourite among his songs, or a favourite piece of her collection, or even her favourite thing about Elvis, but she is certain about one thing: ‘‘He’s good looking – he had the looks, that’s for sure.’’
Hardy said she has collected a lot of her memorabilia through trading but when she bought the Elvis cut-outs, they were quite expensive.
She has already had a bit of interest in them, but she doesn’t mind where they go because she knows whoever buys them will appreciate them.
‘‘There’s a lot of people I know that still love Elvis.’’