Clue 3

Clue 3 – was Val and Stu’s shop - (Valerina Chantrina)

This adorable little dancing bunny, Valerina Chantrina, is named after the lovely Val that lives here and ran the shop here with her husband Stu for many years. A Chantry (for the second part of her name - ‘Chantrina’) is something you’ll find in the church. Val and Stu helped us gather some of the information and photos you’ll see today! Val has even put together one of her famous window displays for Valerina to sit in. Isn’t it beautiful?

Stu’s family have owned a shop here in this building for 100 years – but of course the street’s history goes back much further than that! Farnworth Street that you’re standing on, has so much history. Valerina, the bunny, likes to imagine how the street would have looked when it would have been a main street and would have been filled with shops (bakers, butchers etc…). It is thought that at one point in history, there were 14 ‘pubs’ (drinking establishments) in the small space between the Griffin pub and the Ring O’Bells! It must have felt so alive with hustle and bustle.

Did you know that this shop never used to be the end of the row? Look at the clever photo below which shows you that, at one time, there would have been 3 more houses after Val and Stu’s shop, towards the church! Val’s grandparents told her that there was a time you could have put your arms out and touched the church wall and the end house. Imagine that!

Can you think why those houses might not be there anymore?