Thecentre:mk brought a classic tale to life this past December, taking wee visitors and the young at heart back to Never, Never Land and the story of Peter Pan

The spirit of the boy who vowed never to grow up was very present at thecentre:mk in Milton Keynes, UK, this past December. Peter Pan¹s Never, Never Land was the theme for the centre¹s Christmas show, which immersed visitors in the world that author JM Barrie had dreamt up a century ago
The show recreated several scenes from Peter Pan with such elaborate props as a 30-foot high galleon, a vast water feature complete with footbridge and streetlights, a towering Never Tree and the Edwardian house of the Darling¹s. There was also the Indian encampment, the mermaid lagoon, a crocodile with its ticking clock and thecentre:mk¹s grotto ticket office disguised as Nana¹s kennel.
Against this backdrop, the Christmas show tale unfolded with all of the characters‹from the flying boy himself to the Darling children to an animatronic Captain Hook, who was positioned on the galleon to perform throughout the day.
The Never, Never Land show was a significant undertaking for thecentre:mk¹s project manager, Jackie Tracey, whose programme development began 11 months earlier.
Tracey first met with designers, artists and sculptors last January to discuss various themes before nailing down the plans in March.
"We selected the Peter Pan theme for its timeless quality. It reminds adults of the stories read to them when they were children and represents all the special moments of Christmas through the years," Tracey explained.
"It also contains traditional characters that often appear in children's books, like fairies, pirates and mermaids."
The choice was also a fortunate one for thecentre:mk, given that October 2006 marked the release of Peter Pan in Scarlet, author Geraldine McCaughrean¹s sequel to JM Barrie¹s book‹the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children¹s Charity in the UK holds the rights to the original Peter Pan book and it commissioned the sequel.
What the centre:mk¹s PR officer, Yvonne Shuttleworth, called a happy coincidence proved to be the perfect set-up to have McCaughrean appear at the centre to sign copies of her new book against the backdrop of the Never, Never Land Christmas show.
To make its show a reality, thecentre:mk relied on a skilled team from Huddersfield-based KD Decoratives, which has been producing the scenes for the centre¹s Christmas show for the past seven years. After having built the sets in its expansive warehouse (or at times in the yard, for the larger pieces), KD Decoratives delivered the set components to thecentre:mk in 16 articulated lorries throughout the night, approximately one week before the Never, Never Land show¹s scheduled grand opening.
A crew of 60 brought the pieces to the centre¹s Middleton Hall in pallet loads, on forklifts, so they could be reassembled over a period of four nights‹even the odd mountaineer was called upon to scale the hall¹s great heights and help out with the assembly.
The Christmas show opened in early November with a procession of real-life reindeer heralding the arrival of Father Christmas and the launch of the Christmas trading season. Throughout the period, thecentre:mk¹s visitors enjoyed shopping and plenty of musical entertainment ranging from band performances to choral concerts. The centre also encouraged visitors to toss their pocket change into its Christmas wishing pool, with the monies raised to be divided between Great Ormond Street Hospital Children¹s Charity and the Calvert Trust, an organisation that provides outdoor activities for disabled people, many of them children.
Thecentre:mk made its Christmas show and fundraising campaign highly visible in the community, thanks to a marketing campaign executed in two phases.
The first phase focused on announcing the Christmas show theme and publicising its debut, reminding the shoppers of Santa¹s arrival and noting the opening of the grotto. Once the show was underway, thecentre:mk¹s marketing team publicised the upcoming special events and ongoing attractions, including a double-decker carousel, the charity wishing pool, a fancy-dress competition and a charity car raffle.
Thecentre:mk got its message out by placing advertisements in regional newspapers, group travel magazines, children¹s magazines and on the radio. It also placed posters on outdoor sites. The centre¹s visibility was heightened by free publicity on regional TV broadcasts, on the radio and in the press.
While local newspapers featured articles on the centre weekly until the end of the Christmas show, Shuttleworth said competitions in a variety of media saw giveaways and retailer partnerships all contributing to the gain of widespread coverage.
To focus shoppers¹ attention even further, thecentre:mk commissioned Peter Pan illustrations from a local professional illustrator.
Shuttleworth says it was imperative for the centre to come up with original artwork, as its Christmas show was not licensed by Disney.
"We really took care not to infringe any copyrights with regards to Disney¹s illustrated characters," she noted.
The centre¹s agency then created a programme logo that incorporated the illustrations before Great Ormond Street Hospital Children¹s Charity approved all the final artwork. The centre used the Never, Never Land imagery on all its seasonal printed collateral, online and for onsite communication.
Thecentre:mk¹s Christmas show was certainly different from the first performance of JM Barrie¹s Peter Pan in December 1904. Yet the show supported the centre¹s positioning as a destination where families can escape the everyday, experience the joy of giving and believe that, together, they can improve the lives of children. That will help keep the spirit of Peter Pan alive for another 100 years.