Monday, 20 March 2023

Christopher Robin Went Down With Alice

When I was [very] young, in the days before CBeebies, Octonauts, Hey Duggie and Paw Patrol in glorious technicolour on TV every day - we had Children's Favourites with Uncle Mac on the Radio. And there was one song I remember being sung by Max Bygraves. My Mum would often remind me she'd been at school with the woman he married [Blossom Murray] and they'd played in the same netball team.
I thought of that song again in Norwich on Saturday. Margaret Seaman, the knitter from Yarmouth, has recreated Buckingham Palace in beige DK yarn! I posted about her model of Sandringham two years ago [here
She has said this is her last model [she is 94] Here she is sitting beside the Palace...




This model is noticeably less complex, fewer details, more sections in simple stocking stitch. A friend makes the little people for her. But it is all very impressive nonetheless.
What I realised when finding the song is that Max sings about "The Queen" but AA Milne wrote or"The King" back in the 1920s. Perhaps somebody should re-release it for the Coronation with the original lyrics!
PS I should have added that like Margaret's other creations, this one will go on to tour the county raising funds for charity. Having raised over £100,000 with he previous pieces, Margaret received the British Empire Medal. 

23 comments:

  1. What a wonderfully talented lady ! Love Isabel

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  2. Goodness, that's a lot of knitting. What will happen to the model now - somewhere for more people to see it but without getting dusty?

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  3. That lady's knitting creations are just marvelous!
    I remember that song from when I was a child! My mother used to sing it to me! :)

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  4. Although I admire the skill of all the wonderful knitters who make these amazing models, I often wonder what happens to them after he i initial showing. I took part in one yarn bombing for the charity where I volunteer but the. Beautiful floral fence panels were so dirty after a wet autumn and winter that they had to be consigned to the bin. Catriona

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  5. See PS above. I agree, those Jubilee Postbox toppers started looking grey and bedraggled very quickly. I prefer to knit useful things for charity (eg hats for merchant seamen, jackets for prem babies, blankets for refugees, or small saleable items, etc)

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    1. As do I, Angela.❤️ Catriona

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  6. Mrs. Seaman is one talented lady! There are all sorts of ways to help those in need!

    Hugs!

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    1. Nearly as impressive as the Palace itself!

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  8. What extraordinary talent! So good to know that this creation, like the others, will raise money for charity.

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  9. I am very familiar with the poem but did not know it had been made into a song. My eldest brother is named Christopher Robin and we had an Aunt Alice. I doubt she ever went to Buckingham Palace, though.

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    1. I wouldn't term it a musical masterpiece though. I had an Aunt Alice too

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  10. Talk of Max Bygraves always reminds me of the song Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen by the Sea (now an earworm!). Saw him perform when I was a child.

    Kudos to Margaret Seaman (and friends) for their wonderful creation.

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    1. That is such a bizarre little song. And now I am trying to get it out of my head.

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  11. What amazing work! And I love that it is used for charity. Dawn P. Albany, GA USA

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    1. Thank you Dawn. Perhaps you could knit a model of the White House? 😉

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  12. that is lovely and what a lot of work.....

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