Four wheeled movie star Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is coming to Telford to help the town celebrate its 40th anniversary.
The car will form the centrepiece of a display of 1968 merchandise at the shopping centre throughout next week, in the run-up to the birthday celebrations on July 6.
The shopping centre is planning a week-long series of activities, starting on Monday, themed around the year Telford officially came into being.
It will kick off with Cherida Lauriello, this year’s “Face of Telford”, modelling classic Mary Quant fashions from the swinging sixties.
There will be live entertainment, displays celebrating the town’s past, present and future, and a specially commissioned 1960s memorabilia exhibition in Sherwood Square called Love the 60s, which will include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, original fashions, toys, film props, music and sporting memorabilia, comics and lots more.
Wyre Hall, Dean Square and Dean Street will host a series of displays including ‘Telford Milestones’, a photographic exhibition displaying key events in the town from 1968 to the present day.
Although the official anniversary of Telford’s creation is not until later this year, organisers chose July 6 to capitalise on summer weather and make it a family-themed celebration.
Street performers, face painters, children’s activities and the Beacon Radio Roadshow will be at the centre, and in Southwater Square, on the Sunday, featuring live performances from local schoolchildren and musicians.
Over in Wyre Hall, there will be a 40 Years of Fashion catwalk show, featuring original designs and fabrics from 1968, and from 1pm to 3pm in Sherwood Square, local historian and author Allan Frost will be on hand to sign and discuss his book called Telford 1968: The Way We Lived Then.
