IT WAS an inspired choice of title for the latest Bank Holiday
exhibition held at St Mary's, Thirsk, in York
diocese. "We have mounted a variety of Bank Holiday exhibitions for
over 12 years now," their media officer, Julia Smith, says about
their latest exhibition, "Dolly Mixtures". "As usual, the
congregation and wider community have turned out cupboards and
drawers to provide a wonderful variety of exhibits."
And this year they are displaying no fewer than 237 dolls of all
types, ages, and sizes. "We have everything from exquisite china
dolls to charity-shop rescues," Ms Smith says. "We have hand-made
ones, hand-knitted ones, much-loved baby dolls from the '30s and
'40s, fashion dolls, Russian dolls, even paper dolls, and - to
bring things right up to date - a doll holding a mobile phone to
her ear."
Thirsk is a well-known town. It attracts many visitors and
tourists, not least because it is the town where James Herriot, the
vet and novelist, spent his working life. "We even have a doll
owned by James Herriot's granddaughter," Ms Smith says. "Sadly,
this one has no hands, as they were chewed off by the dog."