If you were a kid in the 80s or 90s no trip to town was complete without a visit to the wooden rhino or camel in the Arndale. Unlike most public art the distinctive sculptures were designed to be played with - and were a welcome distraction for children being dragged round the shops by their mums and dads.
Many a Mancunian kid will have fond childhood memories of climbing inside the rhino's mouth or clambering on the back of the camel - a two-humped Bactrian camel to be precise - outside Currys to pose for a photo. The animals were the work of artist and designer Peter Hand.
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According to the website The Play Sculptures of Peter Hand, his first pieces - a hippo, turtle, whale and snake - were commissioned by the Arndale Centre in Poole when he was teaching at a nearby college alongside a colleague who knew one of architects. From that chance opportunity Peter carved out a niche for himself designing and producing similar pieces for malls across England.
Between 1965 and 1986, the prolific designer, who trained at the prestigious Goldsmiths university in London, produced 35 bespoke play sculptures, mainly in hard wood, but also occasionally in fibreglass, in places such as Bradford, Southend, Cambridge, Nottingham and St Helen's. Peter always personally chose which animals to design - sometimes aiming to reflect the local area - and installed most of them himself.
None of the sculptures remain in place to this day. However over the years campaigns have been launched to try track down the lost pieces, mainly without success.
But in 2014 some of Peter's original play sculptures were resurrected and put on display in a park in Poole after a huge Facebook campaign. The fate of the Manchester sculptures is unknown though.
It's thought they were removed when the Arndale was refurbished after the 1996 IRA bomb. A spokesperson for the Arndale told the Manchester Evening News they were possibly sent to Stretford and Middleton Arndale centres, which at that time were owned by the same company, but their current whereabouts are unknown.
