Back in 1990, residents of a quiet Liverpool village were shocked to see a three ton elephant wandering down the street.
Perhaps a sight that would have sceptics wondering how much they really had to drink last night, this was the reality for Woolton residents as they peered out of their windows that day. The elephant, known as Maureen, had people rubbing their own eyes after it managed to escape from its trainers.
The bizzare event came out of a simple, yet odd, fundraising plan for Woolton’s Marie Curie Hospice. Keith Dunn, the hospice’s former fundraising manager, used his connections to create the spectacle that would see hospice nurse, Anita Roberts, sit on top of Maureen for photographs.
READ MORE: One odd weekend in 1993 that spawned the Mathew Street festival
The barmy stunt was to publicise the hospice’s new building and the team hoped it would help gain press and TV coverage using Maureen. Back in 2009, Anita told the ECHO : “The late Keith Dunn, who was our first fund-raising manager, had some contacts with a circus. We wanted to get some good press and TV coverage – and it worked!”
While the planned stunt went ahead as expected, Maureen seemed to be keen to see a bit more of Woolton during her visit. After giving her trainer the slip, she headed towards the village.
Anita recalled the event and told the ECHO: “Little old women were coming up to us and saying ‘I’m sure I’ve just seen an elephant!’ But she didn’t go berserk – she just wanted to have a little wander!”
Maureen set off on her adventure around the village, popping into gardens along the way. According to one report, even chased a police officer down the street.
Former Paramedic Jeff Keig shared his experience of the day Maureen escaped with liverpoolambulance.com and said he stumbled upon the elephant when out on a call.
Jeff said: “In 1990 when I was on PTS, I was taking an elderly lady home to High Street in Woolton. When we arrived at Woolton Village, there was a large police presence and a crowd of people, but we were unaware of the reason for this.
“I was unable to park in the High Street, so I parked by the Coach and Horses pub and proceeded to assist the patient to her home address. When we turned the corner, I looked up and saw a huge elephant in the gardens.
“I said to my patient ‘do you know that you have an elephant in your garden?’, you can imagine her reaction. I managed to safely deliver the patient to her home address and when I was leaving her house, I saw a police superintendent running down the middle of the road, with the elephant chasing after him, it was a hysterical sight."
The elephant was brought in as a publicity stunt to start the foundation dig for the new Marie Curie centre, (which was replacing the old Sunnybank home) and escaped and decided to have a good walk round Woolton including St Julies school before being captured.
Maureen no doubt had plenty of fun taking in the sights of leafy, 90s Woolton before being tempted back to the hospice with a trail of apples.
