If you visiting the Bullring shopping centre earlier today, you may have noticed that the bull was getting itself a made-to-fit knitted jumper. Don’t be alarmed for this is not the doings of a eccentric flashmob, rather it’s the famous city landmark getting its Christmas present early and all to mark the longer opening hours of the Bullring througout the festive season.
As of today, shops in the centre will be staying open longer than usual – until 10pm during weekdays – so to celebrate, the brains at the complex thought they’d do something extra special for the much-loved bull and have him wearing his new sparkly Christmas jumper for the next couple of weeks.
The Christmas jumper has been created by Stitches and Hos. Formed in 2006 the group are enthusiasts for all things knitted, crocheted and stitched, and have created stitched chaos for a number of events including Moseley Folk Festival. As the city bull will be adorning the woolly attire for just over a fortnight, giving visitors plenty of time to view it and have their picture taken, we wondered if he was at all impressed with his surprise Christmas present.
“Well, he’s got quite a stern face so I’m not sure whether he likes it or not. But the key thing is that his tail is still up and that is usually a good sign with animals,” jokes Sara Fowles, one of the many individuals working on the over-sized knitwear.
She explained putting the jumper together, which will be cut away in order to remove it, was a mammoth undertaking in itself.
“I estimate that it’s taken a minmum of 300 man hours so far, plus today with around 5 of us so another 40 to 50 hours.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDQB3Uecbfk?rel=0]
The bull will be sporting the festive garment up until the 18th of December and is part of the Bullring’s seasonal festivities including its Christmas lights and decoration, the launch of its brand new Spiceal Street dining extension last week and it’s longer opening hours for the Christmas period, during which it closes at 10pm.
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