A woman who provided Bristol with a break from the seriousness of the first covid lockdown by dressing as a singing grape to deliver wine to people said she is bringing the character back - to make a special boozy delivery to Boris Johnson in Number 10.
Claudia Collins came up with the ingenious, if slightly bonkers, idea of her 'Grape-o-Gram' service in the depths of the very first Covid lockdown back in May 2020.
She said she did so at the time, because people were banned from going around their friends' homes for a bit of wine and a get-together, so instead they could hire her to deliver a bottle of wine as a present to someone, along with a specifically written song about them from Claudia, dressed as a giant grape.
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Bristol Live first revealed the Grape-o-Gram service in the very same week - although no one knew it at the time - that Boris Johnson and the staff at Number 10 were cracking their way through the Downing Street wine cellars, and gathering for parties in the garden.
Now, Claudia said that she's prepared to head up to London for a Grape-o-Gram wine delivery service to Boris Johnson - but only if enough people support a fundraiser she's set up, first.
Claudia is raising money for Brislexic, a Bristol-based social enterprise that celebrates neuro-divergent thinking skills, and said that if her fundraiser hits £300, she'll 'nip to London on a Friday with a bottle of Lambrini, and sing a Grape-o-Gram outside Number 10'.
"Supporters of this silly fundraising idea can suggest words for the song and I'll send them a video," she added.
Back in the third week of May 2020, Claudia's Grape-o-Gram idea took off in Bristol, and she was kept busy cycling to people's homes as a grape, singing them songs on her little ukulele and handing over a bottle of wine. Videos of her doing it went viral on social media in the city, although she said she can't bear to watch any of them, herself.
"It’s been really fun to see people’s reactions,” she said at the time. "They are confused at the start, but when they realise who sent it to them, they laugh and have had a few people cry.
“I have had the idea for years, but never had the guts to do it, but now felt like it was the right time. Most people are finding isolation really hard, especially with milestone birthdays and not seeing loved ones, so it’s nice to bring something a little silly to the day - as well as practical, with wine, Shloer, or grapes," she added.
Three days after Bristol Live first showcased the Grape-o-Gram's musical wine-delivering ability, staff at Number 10 held a 'bring your own booze' party in the garden, attended by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson - one of a dozen or more social events there over the following year that broke the covid lockdown rules in place at the time.
Claudia was busy in lockdown - a few weeks before that, she turned the ‘beach roads’ in her part of Knowle West into real beaches as part of an arty lockdown project to make people’s little daily exercise walks more interesting.
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