A FESTIVE toy display full of nostalgic delights is hoping to inject some of the magic of Christmas back to the city centre.
Over the past few days, toys from as far back as the 1890s have been popping up in the windows of the former Billy Higgins shop on Sarsfield Street, much to the delight residents and visitors to the city alike.
The festive display, launched this past Sunday (November 24), is the brainchild of Randal Hodkinson, his wife Lorna, and Dr Paul O’Brien, Mary Immaculate College lecturer in history, with the majority of toys coming from Mr Hodkinson’s personal archive.
Speaking to the Limerick Post, Mr Hodkinson explained that the idea aims to bring a bit of the magic of Christmas back to Limerick City.
“When we were growing up, the wonder of looking into the different toy stores like Roches Stores or Todds or Tots to Teens, all those stores, was just fantastic, to just go down and see all the toys on display,” the city’s new toy master told the Limerick Post.
“We just thought that would give something back to the city and let them see that wonder of Christmas come back to children and adults alike.”
The toys on display range from the 1890s to the 1990s, mostly coming from Mr Hodkinson’s personal archive of toys that he played with as a boy, as well as toys belonging to his father and grandfather.
“You have everything from an original Mickey Mouse from the 1920s, Meccano from the 1920s or 1930s, we have a bicycle lamp from 1890, we have an old viewfinder that you could look at images of buildings from the 1890s as well, and then we have things like Sega Mega Drive, we have Nintendo, we have Atari, all those,” the Limerick man explained, giving a conservative list of the nostalgic and colourful toy story being told in the windows of the former Billy Higgins shop at the corner of Henry Street and Sarsfield Street.
Four generations of the Hodkinson family grew up in the same house, with toys from past decades all being carefully boxed up and stored away.
“Most that stuff has been in boxes for years, for decades, and it’s a shame that no one gets to see it. So it’s a wonderful thing for us just to have it out there and let people see the toys, because I think in most family homes they end up throwing stuff out,” Mr Hodkinson said.
“I suppose we’re lucky in our case that we’re four generations in our own house, so stuff has always stayed there, very little had been thrown out.”
With the help of new owners of the building, Studio Saol, a group of architects currently based at the University of Limerick, Mr Hodkinson, his wife Lorna, and Dr Paul O’Brien diligently got started on creating the Christmas display, which was officially launched this past Sunday.
The Christmas toy display will remain in place until after Christmas, with all invited across Limerick and beyond to take a look and a long walk down memory lane.
