Priceless ‘long-lost’ puppets from an iconic 1980s children’s television series are finally back in Manchester.
A total of 25 original Wind in the Willows puppets, from the classic Cosgrove Hall animated film made in Manchester in 1983, have been donated to the Waterside Arts Centre, in Sale.
Chorlton-based Cosgrove Hall produced some of the best loved kids shows of the 80s and 90s - including Dangermouse, Count Duckula and Chorlton and the Wheelies.
But when the studio closed in 2009, much of the archive was hidden in a corner of a former pie factory at MediaCityUK.
Animators had feared that the puppets from the beloved Wind In The Willows film and series, adapted from Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's novel, had been lost more than three decades ago.
In fact, it wasn’t until they were put up for auction in Dorchester earlier this year that hope was reignited that the adorable puppets could be returned to Greater Manchester.
The handmade puppets had in fact been stored at the home of animatronics and set designer Andrew Dunning, who acquired them following the production of the film.
Andrew kept the figures safely in dark storage for more than 26 years and later at his own home before he decided to take them to Duke’s Auctioneers in April this year.
It was only then that staff at Waterside - now home to the Cosgrove Hall Films (CHF) archive - were told that they had survived all these years.
The puppets have been gifted to the arts centre thanks to Andrew and Lee Young, the MD at Duke’s Auctioneers.
Councillor Jane Baugh, Trafford Council’s executive member for Culture and Leisure, said the acquisition was ‘a real coup’.
“Wind in the Willows is regarded as a real classic which has delighted readers and viewers down the generations since being first published in 1908,” she said.
“We are so grateful that their previous owner took great care of them and we are so appreciative that thanks to his generosity and that of Duke’s Auctioneers, we are now able to bring them home to Greater Manchester and to be a part of Waterside’s CHF archives.”
The hand-made puppets, which range in height from 5ins to the 14ins Badger - are made from cast resin with metal jointed skeletons inside.
Used in the 1983 film, they were also part of the subsequent TV show, which ran for 52 episodes on ITV between 1984 and 1988.
Waterside also recently received a funding boost from the Arts Council England which will be used to make new animated films that respond to the Cosgrove Hall Films Archive. They will sit alongside the latest animated film they have just produced with former Cosgrove Hall Director, Oscar-nominee and BAFTA winner Barry Purves.
Cosgrove Hall was founded by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall in 1976 and quickly became the UK's largest animation house - producing hits such as Noddy, Postman Pat and Roald Dahl's The BFG.
The puppets will be on display at Waterside as part of the Cosgrove Hall: Frame By Frame exhibition between November 14 and December 28, 2019.
