Gromit Unleashed


I've had lots of fun going to Bristol lately because of all the decorated Gromit Unleashed models found around the city. There's been other trails before - such as the Wow Gorillas in Bristol 2 years ago, plus the pigs and lions in Bath, but there's nothing quite like Gromit is there?

There are 80 to find, so it's a good way of seeing Bristol. As you can see, they're not just outdoors - the bottom centre one in the collage above is at the cinema at Cabot Circus - can you tell who it is? There are two wonderful ones at Temple Meads station - have a look at Isambark Kingdog Brunel in the centre of the collage.

They're not just in just in Bristol either - places like Cheddar and Westonbirt have the odd one and Chippenham Town Hall has the smaller size which were sent to schools and community groups to decorate - by Sheldon in this case. I was delighted to find the one pictured at Paddington, which invites passengers to come to Bristol. The GWR train managers have been known to announce Gromit's whereabouts when they arrive at the station ;)

The trail is proving to be popular and Gromit must be one of Bristol's most well-loved characters (Aardman Animations is based in the city). Children run up to him with squeals of delight when they see a new one and I'm not that far behind them in the running stakes either. The free trail map is in reprint after the first 150,000 were snapped up and there's an App you can download for 69p, with 40p of that going to Wallace and Gromit's Grand Appeal. After the trail finishes in September, all the models will be auctioned to raise money for the same charity.

Sadly some of them were vandalised, including the celeb one designed by Joanna Lumley. However, it was heartening to not only find this Gromit restored to good health last month, but also to see the get well card which appeared in his absence.

There's a few other Gromit themed items appearing around the city too - like the wafer shown below, which came with my friend H's ice cream on our recent GNO.

Here are a few more of my favourites:

Ice cream wafer, Trevor Bayliss's 'Wind This Way' and 'Nuts and Bolts' at Temple Meads

And I love the irony of another favorite character - Simon's Cat - adorning Gromit at Cabot Circus...


The trail continues until September 8th, so you still have time to get cracking!

Update: On October 3rd the auction of all the Gromit statues raised 2.3 million pounds for the Bristol Children's Hospital :)

Comments

  1. Jenny16 August 2013 at 09:18

    Brilliant. We only had time to find one in a brief trip to Bristol this weekend - but he's also featuring on our blog today :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Quite gifted16 August 2013 at 09:57

    This is such a great idea. We followed all the trails last year for the Olympics with Wenlock and Mandeville. The kids loved it and we saw parts of London we had never been to. It looks great.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pauline16 August 2013 at 14:52

    My grandsons who live in Bristol, and their cousins from Canada had a great time following the trail. It's a great idea and everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Caro16 August 2013 at 17:44

    Oh I love Gromit, he's so well characterized! Looks like folk have had a lot of fun decorating these, I particularly like Isambark Kingdog Brunel ... and is that Buzz Lightdog at the cinema? I can imagine that you had a really fun day, zipping all over Bristol! Wonderful that they'll be auctioned at the end - which charity will benefit from the fundraising?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous16 August 2013 at 17:46

    It's a great idea especially for the school holidays. I've read several blog posts about it and it seems that everyone has enjoyed themselves, and had great fun. Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. CJ16 August 2013 at 20:54

    Fantastic. We did four more today, the boys just love it. I imagine we'll see a few more before the end of the summer. The Gromit Unleashed place at the Mall is wonderful as well, very well worth a trip for little people. There's a great display, complete with the rocket from "A Grand Day Out", which has a red button at child height labelled "Do Not Press". Also plasticine modelling, drawing using traced figures on light boxes, some sets from the movies and a film about the creation of Wallace and Gromit, which includes lots of great clips. We could have spent ages there! Saw Feathers McGraw not far from there as well, he is up to no good...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Rose Garden Malevik17 August 2013 at 22:09

    really funny :)
    and do not miss...

    SATURDAY SHOW OFF

    it is FUN :)
    WELCOME
    Håkan ( The Roseman)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Eight by Six17 August 2013 at 22:44

    Mde me smile. My son loved Wallace & Gromit and carried his shaun the sheep everywhere. Amanda x

    ReplyDelete
  9. VP18 August 2013 at 09:03

    Hi everyone - good to see so many of you love Gromit and to see some of you have also been on his trail (or should that be tail?) this summer.

    Quite Gifted - I have some pictures of Wenlock and Mandeville from last year - I also giggled quite a bit when they were leaping up and down trackside ;)

    TRIM - welcome :) Thanks for publicising your regular meme. I don't publish very often on a Saturday, but you never know I might have something for you sometime...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anna18 August 2013 at 20:14

    Oh what a great Gromit trail VP. There must be many smiling faces in Bristol. It seems to be such a vibrant city with a lot going on but sad to say I've only seen bits in passing through. Hope that some of these lovely creatures are left as a permanent legacy. There are still some Superlambanas lingering in Liverpool including a couple at our local railway station :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 August 2013 at 08:31

      I hope they do Anna. I remember seeing the Superlambananas on my one trip to that city :)

      Sadly another Gromit was vandalised over the weekend - the one on the top left in the first picture :(

      Delete

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