I was 18-months old when my Mum took me and my brother to the grand opening of a brand-new shopping centre on the outskirts of Northampton in 1974, Weston Favell Shopping.

My Mum recalls, “The opening of the shopping centre was in the local newspaper and advertised that the Wombles character mascot would be there”. The Wombles were hugely popular at the time with a children’s stop motion animation TV series and the band The Wombles had a 1974 chart-topping hit ‘Remember You’re a Womble’.

My Mum said that we drove to the shopping centre on the opening day and parked in the huge car park at the front of the building. She recalls that she could not believe the scale of this new building. It was like nothing she had seen before in her words: “Back in those days there wasn’t any out-of-town retail parks, so it was very exciting to be able to park up and visit so many shops under one roof”.

My Mum remembers once we were inside the shopping centre looking up at the enormous modern vaulted ceilings and down at the black marbled shiny floor, she said plants and foliage embellished the columns and pillars and it all looked so modern.

She said that a lot of people turned out for the opening and that the atmosphere was wonderful. We queued for some time to have our photograph taken with the Wombles, but it was well worth the wait.

Although I was too young to recall the opening day, I remember lots of other trips to the shopping centre throughout my childhood. It always felt like a big day out, a treat when my Mum would say “We’re going to Weston Favell today”.

Now 47 years on I am proud to say that I work at the shopping centre within the management team and love playing my part in helping this generation of families make happy memories whilst visiting the centre.

Nearly five decades on and Weston Favell Shopping continues to serve its community and host fun club events for local children including meet and greet character mascot days, just not the Wombles!

By Janette Muddiman (Johnson)