48 days to go: My holy grail

Every photo you have seen (and will see) in my 100 day countdown was taken by me and comes from my own Star Wars collection. This is the only exception. Every collector has their ‘holy grail’, that one item that they would love to have in their collection, but have never been able to track down, or it is just too expensive. There are a few items I would love to have: a mint on card vinyl-caped Jawa figure and a mint on original Star Wars card Boba Fett spring to mind. However, the one item that tops the list is the original Palitoy Death Star Playset from the late 70s. They can reach up to $7,500 (£5,000), depending on the condition. The hunt continues...

 Star Wars Death Star playset, Palitoy

49 days to go: Battle stations!

I certainly got my money's worth from all of my Star Wars toys as a child. Although generally I took great care of all of my toys, never parting with any of them, some wore the scars of battles between the Rebels and the Empire. Me and my best school friend, Michael, would recreate scenes from the movies in his garden. My original Imperial Scout Walker still has burn marks on its leg from where we got carried away with real fire to add to the authenticity of the battle!

Scout Walker, Palitoy

50 days to go: The original 12 action figures

Initially Kenner (and Palitoy in the UK) released twelve characters as action figures, probably to assess whether there was a market for such toys. The rest is history, of course! Although I still have all of the original vintage action figures from when I was a kid, they were obviously removed from the packaging so that I could re-enact the movie, just like every other child. As my collecting continued into adulthood I would often search eBay in its early days for items. One day somebody was offering all the original twelve figures mint on their cards. In a moment of weakness I took the plunge, but I am so happy I did. Nothing beats that vintage look of the original packaging design.

 The first twelve Star Wars action figures, Kenner, 1978

51 days to go: One day I will get there

Although I've yet to personally visit the Lucasfilm facility near San Francisco (I have passed by it a few times), many of my colleagues have been and have looked after me by making a purchase from the Lucasfilm Cast Store.

Lucasfilm Ltd merchandise, Lucasfilm Cast Store 

52 days to go: My first lightsaber

This may seem incredibly hard to believe, but I didn’t own my first lightsaber until I was 21 years-old! It was given to me by my now husband, Bradley, as a Christmas gift. It was the Luke Skywalker, Return of the Jedi green lightsaber by Kenner. As a child, I preferred to re-enact the movies (and personally created storylines) with my action figures rather than in person. I have since added an array of lightsabers to my collection. I'm hoping to add a Kylo Ren version from The Force Awakens in the not too distant future...

53 days to go: Class of 77

I went to my first Star Wars convention in the early 90s. It was an event called Empire Day in Watford (just outside London), where I was living at that time. This was to be the first of many conventions I would attend, and continue to attend, both in the UK and now in the US. In fact, my honeymoon was actually timed so we could attend the Star Wars Celebration Convention in Florida! In recent years Star Wars conventions have become ever larger and ever more popular, they are a far cry from the ones I use to go to in tiny halls. I always take my trustee convention bag with me to keep any autographs I collect safe and to have my "needs list" of merchandise handy.