The Wind in the Willows Soap Bars in their Original Packaging
I remember the day in 1983 when my Grandmother came home from shopping in town at Selfridges with a gift set of “Wind in the Willows” soaps and talcum powder as a present for one of our next door neighbours’ daughters as a birthday gift. The talcum powder had Mr. Badger on it, and the soaps had Mr. Toad and Ratty on them. I was so upset that she was getting something so beautiful when she probably didn’t care very much about. Luckily, my Grandmother knew how much I would love them, because I enjoyed reading Kenneth Grahame’s book, and we had watched the Cosgrove Hall stop-animation series on the telly - for which I also had the cassette tape which I played regularly - so, she had bought me my own box of two soaps featuring my two favourite characters: Ratty and Mole at the same time!
The theme for “Looking Close on Friday” for the 29th of January is “soap bar”, and I immediately thought of my precious Cosgrove Hall Production television tie in “Wind in the Willows” soaps. I have never taken these out of their box, and even after nearly fourty years, they still smell beautifully. I have them in one of my drawers to help keep my jumpers smelling beautiful. I love the fine transfers on them, and the images on the packaging, including Ratty’s house, the Riverbank with Mr. Toad punting down it and Toad Hall with the yellow gypsy caravan parked out the front. I hope you like my vintage soaps too!
These soaps were, quoting from the back of the packaging, “beautifully made in England by Richard Appleby Ltd. 50 Jermyn Street, London SW1” in 1983. They were made as a television tie in for the Cosgrove Hall Production of “The Wind in the Willows” which they then followed up with several series of shorter episodes, all using stop-motion animation. I loved them when they started in 1983, and I still love them now and have the whole series on DVD!
Mark Hall and Brian Cosgrove headed the Manchester based company, Cosgrove Hall Productions who created meticulously and most beautifully crafted stop-motion animation films. In 1983 they produced a feature length pilot film of “The Wind in the Willows”. The series continued where the film, and for all but two episodes (“The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” and “Wayfarers All”) the book left off for a further sixty-four original episodes between 1984 and 1990. The series featured famous British actors Richard Pearson, Peter Sallis, Sir David Jason and Sir Michael Hordern voicing the main characters with Ian Carmichael as the narrator. Cosgrove Hall Productions was part of the Thames Television group. Once a major producer of children’s television and animated programmes, Cosgrove Hall was wound up by its then owner ITV in October 2009. As well as the “Wind in the Willows” series, Cosgrove Hall Productions was known best for its series “Count Duckula” and “Danger Mouse” (both also voiced by Sir David Jason).
The Wind in the Willows Soap Bars in their Original Packaging
I remember the day in 1983 when my Grandmother came home from shopping in town at Selfridges with a gift set of “Wind in the Willows” soaps and talcum powder as a present for one of our next door neighbours’ daughters as a birthday gift. The talcum powder had Mr. Badger on it, and the soaps had Mr. Toad and Ratty on them. I was so upset that she was getting something so beautiful when she probably didn’t care very much about. Luckily, my Grandmother knew how much I would love them, because I enjoyed reading Kenneth Grahame’s book, and we had watched the Cosgrove Hall stop-animation series on the telly - for which I also had the cassette tape which I played regularly - so, she had bought me my own box of two soaps featuring my two favourite characters: Ratty and Mole at the same time!
The theme for “Looking Close on Friday” for the 29th of January is “soap bar”, and I immediately thought of my precious Cosgrove Hall Production television tie in “Wind in the Willows” soaps. I have never taken these out of their box, and even after nearly fourty years, they still smell beautifully. I have them in one of my drawers to help keep my jumpers smelling beautiful. I love the fine transfers on them, and the images on the packaging, including Ratty’s house, the Riverbank with Mr. Toad punting down it and Toad Hall with the yellow gypsy caravan parked out the front. I hope you like my vintage soaps too!
These soaps were, quoting from the back of the packaging, “beautifully made in England by Richard Appleby Ltd. 50 Jermyn Street, London SW1” in 1983. They were made as a television tie in for the Cosgrove Hall Production of “The Wind in the Willows” which they then followed up with several series of shorter episodes, all using stop-motion animation. I loved them when they started in 1983, and I still love them now and have the whole series on DVD!
Mark Hall and Brian Cosgrove headed the Manchester based company, Cosgrove Hall Productions who created meticulously and most beautifully crafted stop-motion animation films. In 1983 they produced a feature length pilot film of “The Wind in the Willows”. The series continued where the film, and for all but two episodes (“The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” and “Wayfarers All”) the book left off for a further sixty-four original episodes between 1984 and 1990. The series featured famous British actors Richard Pearson, Peter Sallis, Sir David Jason and Sir Michael Hordern voicing the main characters with Ian Carmichael as the narrator. Cosgrove Hall Productions was part of the Thames Television group. Once a major producer of children’s television and animated programmes, Cosgrove Hall was wound up by its then owner ITV in October 2009. As well as the “Wind in the Willows” series, Cosgrove Hall Productions was known best for its series “Count Duckula” and “Danger Mouse” (both also voiced by Sir David Jason).