Postman Pat sets saved from destruction go on display

The sets feature tiny props that were used by the characters on the show

The sets used to create children's TV favourite Postman Pat have gone on show after being saved from destruction by the show's animators.

The sets, which depict the rolling lanes of Pat's fictional Lake District home Greendale, were in storage, but had to find a new home or be scrapped.

Animators MacKinnon & Saunders, who made the show's last series, persuaded a film archive to step in to help.

Chief executive Peter Saunders said he was relieved they had been saved.

Among the sets saved is Postman Pat's cottage, which is on show with his famous red van parked nearby

Also saved was the Pencaster set, which became part of Pat's expanded world in the early 2000s

Postman Pat has been a favourite with audiences since the stop-motion animation was first broadcast on the BBC in 1981.

Originally created by Ivor Wood and John Cunliffe for Woodman Animations, later series were made by Manchester animators Cosgrove Hall Films (CHF) and subsequently Altrincham-based Mackinnon & Saunders.

Mr Saunders said the sets they and CHF used, for episodes between 2013 and 2017, had incorporated parts of Wood's originals, but had expanded Pat's world to include a nearby town, Pencaster.

"After production was completed, the beautiful miniature sets and props were carefully packed and moved to a storage facility in Stalybridge," he said.

However, he added that the "iconic village of Greendale was served notice this year".

"No longer required for filming, all the models were to be destroyed unless a new home could be found for them."

The action of the show has been lovingly recreated by the team at the Waterside Arts Centre

The team has painstakingly laid out a number of sets, including one with a goat stealing a letter from Postman Pat

The sets show the level of detail the animators included, such as fruit growing on plants in Postman Pat's garden

He said when he heard of the "perilous situation", he contacted CHF's archive, which is based at Sale's Waterside Arts Centre, "to ask whether their animation archive could come to Greendale's rescue".

"The teams immediately offered to help and, thanks to their hard work and dedication, many of the models featured in this uniquely British piece of popular culture have been saved for future generations to enjoy."

The sets, which include Pat's cottage, the village school and Pencaster Square, will now go on display alongside models of Pat, his cat Jess and other characters from the show as part of an exhibition at the centre.

The archive "just jumped at the chance to be the new custodians" of the "beautifully preserved" sets, a spokesman said

The sets will be on display until January and are now a permanent part of the Cosgrove Hall Film Archive

Creative Industries Trafford co-ordinator Richard Evans said as they "already had some puppets from the show in the archive", his team "just jumped at the chance to be the new custodians" of the "beautifully preserved" sets.

"Knowing how much loved this television series was and still is... we have created this exhibition especially to share these rarely-seen sets, puppets and props with the shows' fans, both big and small."

Postman Pat: Welcome to Greendale runs at the Waterside Arts Centre until 8 January 2022.