Banksie and his outfits keep a Banburyshire village smiling during the pandemic - and now a book is selling like hot cakes
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Banksie was the brainchild of villager Chris Wells who initially wanted to cheer people up during the difficult periods of Covid-19 lockdown.
Mrs Wells' daughter Kate Spencer, who co-wrote the book, said: "Right at the start of lockdown, my mum decided to make a big happy face emoji, which she put on the bank outside her house in Middleton Cheney.
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Hide Ad"Over time he started dressing up in cardboard 'outfits' to commemorate significant events, such as the children going back to school, the Grand Prix, Halloween, Easter and the start of the football season. He's become really popular in the village and people go out of their way to see what his latest outfit is. It's cheered a lot of people up over the last year and a bit," she said.
"We decided to create a book featuring photos of him over his first year, together with reminders of significant Covid events that were happening at the time - what the rules were, how people felt and other markers in the pandemic. And sales of the book are really good - we're planning a second print run."
The 64-page colour book is £10 each with profits going to the Middleton Cheney Food Bank and the Trussell Trust (the national food bank charity).
The Banksie book is available at www.the-banksie-book.myshopify.com/ People who are members of the Middleton Cheney Village News and Views Facebook group can contact the team via one of their posts and arrange for local collection.