Lancaster Guardian cartoon.
Sometimes it’s the little things, and often they seem to be horse related. First it was the horse shoe from horse shoe corner here in Lancaster that went missing as the building works started on the paving in town. People weren’t sure where it went to, but one day it was restored to the crossroads area between Cheapside and Penny Street and everyone was pleased.
All that remained to be restored was the Rocking Horse from the above 8 New Street. A long time relic of a shop sign, as the plaque nearby says (or something similar at least). It was hanging above Lawsons toy shop when I first arrived in Lancaster in 2004. Then the toy shop closed and the horse remained, hanging above All Fired Up – a ceramics cafe that opened on the spot. Then after that closed, the horse graced the wall above the new Greek taverna The Trojan Horse, which suited it well. Then after that, Enchanted Kids opened selling children’s clothes and toys, which was the closest the site came to returning to it’s bygone days of being a toy shop. Finally, and most recently, the shop is now going to be a burger bar.
In between Enchaned Kids closing down and now however, the horse vanished. There was much to-do and outcry about this, but all is not lost. Apparently the rocking horse had just been taken away to be restored to his former glory before he will be returned to his spec’ above the shop where he’s been for nigh on eighty years or so.
Though the contents of the shop may change and change again – the rocking horse will endure!
As for what he might have been up to whilst he’s finally got a holiday from his job as wall ornament, who can say? Breaking world indoor skiing records perhaps? One can only hazard a guess.
Jack Knight Graphics 