Newton Abbot Town Council

‘Spot the Character’ Evening – late night shopping – Wednesday 1st December. Sponsored by the Mid Devon Advertiser, ‘A Dressing Up Box’ and Austins.

Children really enjoyed this event last year and so Sally was pleased to repeat the event this year, with even more characters to ‘spot’ in the town centre! There were more prizes this year too – with a chance to win one of four Austins toy store vouchers.

Eleven ‘characters’ from popular children’s TV programmes and films paraded from the War Memorial in Queen Street down to the Town Centre at 6pm on Wednesday 1st  December. Once the procession was over – children accompanied by an adult were invited to find all of the characters, which could have been in the street, or doing their Christmas shopping in one of the shops in that street! The character then stamped the child’s entry form and once the entry form was complete, Cruella De Vil who was based in Bank Street, collected all of the entries. The first two boys and girl’s correct entries were drawn and Cruella telephoned the lucky winners with the news after school the following afternoon.

The winners, Charlie Buttenshaw aged 2 and a half, Lucy Ware – aged 10, Callum Jones – aged 4 and Leon Cuddy – aged 11 - were invited to receive their prizes from Cruella and to have their picture taken by and published in the Mid Devon Advertiser.

The event could not have taken place without the participation of members of the Town Council and CIC as well as the team from A Dressing Up Box, who were tremendous (if cold) sports on the night! Felicity Cole the Museum Curator and her husband Martin completed the line up ensuring that Santa’s Grotto in the Clock Tower was ready to receive lots of little visitors too on the night.

The characters were:

Cruella De Vil – Sally Henley - Town Deevelopment Manager
The Joker – Phil Rowe -Town Clerk
Cinderella – Jane Ballantyne – Community Plan Coordinator
Lara Croft - Samantha Scott -Town Council - Financial Officer
Kelly Burridge – one of the Dalmatians - Admin Assistant
Spider Man – Cllr Mike Ryan
Bananas in Pyjamas – Cllr Mike Hocking and Cllr Colin Parker
Big Bird –Cllr Ken Purchase
Shaun the Sheep – Viv Potton  - A Dressing Up Box
Mr Blobby – Julie Stevenson – A Dressing Up Box