About Gloucester Scrumpty Trail for Rugby World Cup
To help celebrate Gloucester as a Host City for the Rugby World Cup, there is an exciting Sculptural Trail. Gloucester have adopted Humpty Dumpty as a mascot and given him a rugby jersey and boots: His nickname Scrumpty comes from `scrum’ and `dumpty’. Gloucester legend claims that Humpty Dumpty was the name of a new siege engine which was to be used during the English Civil War Siege of Gloucester in 1643.
The Citizen ran a competition to design a Scrumpty with their design being reproduced by a professional artist on a full scale 5ft Scrumpty. The winner was judged by 2 weeks of public voting and was Kingsholm CofE Primary School student 10 year old Jessica Moss. She created a Gloucester Rugby inspired Scrumpty and her miniature verson can be seen at Gloucester Cathedral, along with the other Scrumptys created by 25 local schools. Until October Jessica’s full scale Scrumpty (Number 13 Citizen Scrumpty) can be found on a Sculpture Trail along with 19 other Scrumptys – which have been placed in historic streets and green places of Gloucester to capture the imaginations of the public. They will then be auctioned off for charity.
Our Experience of Gloucester’s Scrumpty Trail
Having previously read a post on South West Reviews about the Scrumpty Trail I was confident that we could complete the trail pretty quickly. I took my two youngest boys and set off with the map. I let my 7 year old map read and let him go where he wanted. I had a rough idea where I was and had sat nav to get back to the car. We started with the Scrumptys as Gloucester Quays and the boys loved walking around the Docks – asking questions about it all (some of which I didn’t even know the answer). We also discovered new places that we did not know existed – like the Soldiers of Gloucester Museum. They were disappointed to see that Scrumpty Colour the World (no. 7) was missing and we wondered if it had been taken away to be repaired. We then headed towards the centre in time for lunch. There are plenty of places to eat in Gloucester Centre to accommodate all manner of tastes and budgets. We opted for Greggs and treated ourselves to doughnuts too.
I am sure it would have been quicker to wonder around Gloucester and just find the eggs but I felt it was good for my son’s orientation skills. I think he did a really good job seeing that the map is not that clear, and there’s not much to give away where the eggs are (apart from some of the sponsors). Having previously visited the Warner Bros Studio Tour London the boys were excited to visit Gloucester Cathedral where some of Harry Potter was filmed.
We finished the first day in the Gloucester Tourist Information Centre – there you can pick up a free Scrumpty map and purchase Scrumpty memorabilia. We got a very nice Scrumpty magnet (as we have a whole fridge freezer full of magnets from where we have been). They also informed us that number 7 had just been delayed and not vandalised. However, there was a missing ear (which was since fixed) on number 3 (The Tailor). I was sad to learn that later on Scrumpty Number 1 was vandalised.
We then went back another day with my 12 year old son and let him do the map reading. This time we noticed lots of miniature Scrumptys in shops such as Kara Hair and Beauty, Cookes Coffee & Curios and Scoot69. My older son was much quicker at finding the Scrumptys but number 6 (Monkty) was pretty tricky. Also number 7 had arrived. We also discovered the Portraits of the Gloucester Ruby Players. The WOW Rugby exhibition is at Gloucester City Museum with colour portraits of the Rugby Players past and present by Russell Haines, and lots more (running until October 31st 2015). Being so local the boys were also able to tell information about Gloucester that I did not already know – there is certainly plenty to learn!
1. Cracked – Trix, Café Rene
3. The Tailor – Deven Bhurke, Naylor Powell
4. Eggburt Trumpty – Mik Richardson, SAFEagent
5. Chick-in-Scrumpty -Michelle Heron, Officenet Systems
6. Monkty – Mik Richardson, Davie and Partners Solicitors
7. Colour the World – Swarez, Doctor Fosters
8. The Viking – Deven Bhurke, Renishaw
9. Puzzlewood – Sian Storey, Gloucester Quays
10. Steampunkty – Mik Richardson, Keyway
11. Old Bragg – Simon McCouiag, Soldiers of Gloucester Museum
12. Ahoy There Scrumpty! – Rachel Shilston, Intoplay
13. Citizen Scrumpty – Jessica Moss, Gloucester Citizen
14. Nerva – Bryony Ball, Hollie Gazzard Trust
15. Folky – Sian Storey, Eastgate Shopping Centre
16. Oops-A-Daisy – Maria Burns, Linden Homes
17. Hard Boiled – Jenny Sealey, Andy Cars & Butlers Venue
18. The Rocketeer – Sophie Green, Kingswalk Shopping Centre, Hanman Split & Gloucester Chamber of Commerce
19. Scrumpy Scrumpty – Elaine Carr, Marketing Gloucester Ltd
20. Galaxy Travels – Kimberley Webb, Pertemps
Now that the boys have found all the eggs they will return again and try to locate them again to show their dad (who was at work and missed the trail when we went). The Scrumptys have so much detail that I am sure there are things the boys missed the first couple of times too. If I had to pick a favourite Scrumpty I wouldn’t know where to begin – but knowing that a 10 year old designed Citizen Scrumpty (13) I think I would have to go with that.
Download a Scrumpty Trail Map
This is not a sponsored post. I am a Gloucestershire Blogger helping to promote businesses in the local area to support our local economy.