Thursday, December 15

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMOUSE – KNITTED RODENTS IN WINNING WINDOW DISPLAY GAIN WORLDWIDE RECOGNITION

A CHRISTMAS window display in one of the Mare & Foal Sanctuary’s charity shops has been causing quite a stir, not only within the Devonshire village of Bovey Tracey where it is on show, but worldwide thanks to Facebook.

Having judged all entries into its annual Christmas window dressing competition, for which the prize is a basket of fruit and a bottle of wine for the victors, Bovey Tracey’s Dickensian Christ Mouse was declared the winner. However, even before the results were announced, news was already spreading far and wide of the woolly work of art which was eight months in the making.

The scene, which has even been stopping traffic passing through the village centre, features everything from a priest to carol singers, a couple kissing under the mistletoe, ice skaters, a snowball fight and even a maid serving up Christmas pudding – all mice, of course.

Shop Manager Sherri Evans said: “Last year, we came second with Santa’s Workshop and the year before that we won with The Twelve Days of Christmas. I’ve been at this shop for 10 years and came up with this idea as I really wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before.

“The more I thought about it, the more I thought about how everybody has problems and worries and money troubles at the moment so really I wanted to do something to make them smile. I like to knit and I just thought mice and a Dickensian scene fitted together well.

“One of the villagers took some photos and put them on theirFacebook page and news of the window has already reached Canada, America and Australia. We’ve also had workmen sticking their heads around the door and calling to us ‘Great shop window!’, a car-full of older people who slowed down and were climbing over one another to get a proper look, and one little boy even comes in every day after school to see them and gets here before his mum.

“The reaction has been incredible,” Sherri continues, adding that in the first week alone they’ve already received 27 orders for knitted mice and have put reserves on every one of the 40 or so originals. “My team put in a lot of hard work and it was fun doing to do, but it’s not really about winning - it has been worth it just to watch people’s reactions.”

Mare & Foal Sanctuary Area Shops Manager Sarah Hallett said: “I knit myself, so I understand how much work has gone in to it. I am just amazed at how much effort they have put in to it in their own time. It’s lovely.”

Sanctuary Senior Manager Syra Bowden added:“It’s something we do every year and the shop managers and their teams across all our shops always put in a huge amount of effort. In fact, at Bovey Tracey, they had been knitting for their window since May. It’s obvious from the public response that all their hard work has paid off.”

MICE TO MEET YOU: Knitted Mice cost £4.50 and knitted Christmas Trees £7.50. For further information, call the shop on 01626 834928. To find out more about the Mare & Foal Sanctuary, visit or Facebook. Knitters were: Shop Manager Sherri Evans of Chudleigh, volunteers Phyllis Harwood and Carole Carne and Carole’s sister Anne Carne of Bovey Tracey. Phyllis’s husband Les Harwood made the scenery and volunteer Carole Reynolds the lettering for the window, both also of Bovey Tracey.

  • For all press enquiries, please call Mare & Foal Sanctuary Publicity Officer Tamzin Hindmarch on 01626 355969.