Child mannequin found on train with can of cider

6 hours ago

Simon ParkinBBC Radio Somerset

News image — The mannequin called Annie went missing from Blue Anchor Station during a railway gala

Blue Anchor Station News and Needs A child mannequin with a straw hat and cardigan sitting on a train. The mannequin is holding a can. The train appears to be moving. — The mannequin called Annie went missing from Blue Anchor Station during a railway gala

A mannequin which went missing from a railway museum has been found on a train with a can of cider in its hand.

The World War Two child evacuee, known as Annie, disappeared from the Blue Anchor Station during a West Somerset Railway gala and was later found alone in a carriage at Minehead Station.

Young Annie, who normally sits with her mother on one of the station's platforms, is thought to have been taken by a "group of lads" on a stag do.

Robin Whichard, the station master at Blue Anchor, said: "she seems absolutely unphased by her condition and mum doesn't seem to have noticed, so no harm done."

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The West Somerset Railway runs between Minehead and Bishop's Lydeard.

The mannequins on display were "evacuated" to the Blue Anchor Station last year from the STEAM museum in Swindon, Wiltshire.

"They don't normally cause a lot of problems," said Whichard.

"We get more photographs taken of them than virtually anything else on the station."

Blue Anchor Station - news and needs A child mannequin with a straw hat and cardigan and a woman mannequin wearing period clothing, sitting on a bench. There are museum displays behind them. — Annie was eventually reunited with her mother "who appeared not to have noticed" her daughter was missing

The museum believes Annie went missing during the railways "very busy" Diesel Gala.

"We didn't know anything about it until we got a call from staff at Minehead station asking if we'd mislaid Annie," said Whichard.

"Because she'd turned up in a carriage with a can of cider in her hand."

He said staff at Minehead "certainly weren't expecting" to find a young evacuee mannequin on the train but "fortunately someone recognised" her.

"I think it gave staff quite a shock when they were checking the train to find her sitting there," he said.

"Given her inebriated state - they put her in a wheelchair and delivered her back on the next train."

He said Annie was eventually reunited with her mother "who appeared not to have noticed" anything was amiss.

"Piecing it together, we think there was a group of people on a stag do that borrowed her and decided it would be fun to put her on the train and seat her there and leave her there.

"We're glad to have her back even if we didn't realise she had gone," Whichard added.

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