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Town 'freaked out' by arrival of giant baby

BBC A large puppet of a unclothed baby sits on top of a pile of pink, blue and yellow custions. The puppet - around four times the height of adults stood nearby - has short ginger hair and blue eyes, and is holding a purple and yellow dummy in one hand. A giant purple and yellow bottle, made to look like it is filled with milk, stands at its feet.BBC
The large figure of a child has unsettled some in the town of Rochdale

A giant baby puppet that has appeared in the centre of a town has been described as "creepy" and the "ugliest baby I've ever seen" by stunned passersby.

The 8.5m high (27ft) figure, called Lilly, was placed in Rochdale town centre as part of a council project to encourage schoolchildren to talk about the importance of the environment.

Those conversations have been recorded and will be broadcast from the baby when it is relocated for an event next month at Hollingworth Lake Nature park.

But members of the public have been left unsettled by the baby's presence, with some describing it as "freaky".

A close-up of the giant puppet's face, with its eyes half closed.
Pupils were encouraged to talk to the baby about the future of the environment

One person told BBC Radio Manchester they had "never seen anything like this in Rochdale before", while another said the baby was like something from the 1990 sci-fi comedy Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

“I came around the corner and I thought, 'It’s just creepy with its eyes shut, never mind open'."

Another passerby asked whether there was someone inside.

School groups have been invited to speak to the baby about their plans for looking after nature and animals in future.

The recordings will then by played back on 24 October as part of the three-day Wild Wanders event, an outdoor environmental arts festival organised at Hollingworth Lake by Rochdale Council.

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