Wombles Day and bench unveiling at Plough Lane stadium

9 July 2022

A Wombles sculpture will be installed outside the AFC Wimbledon football stadium at Plough Lane, with a day of activities to celebrate the occasion.

The wood-carved Orinoco Womble Bench will be unveiled by members of author Elisabeth Beresford’s family, along with Orinoco, Bungo and Alderney, at 11am on Saturday 9 July.

Later there’s an opportunity to meet Great Uncle Bulgaria and Madame Cholet, as well as AFC Wimbledon’s mascot Haydon.

The bench and statue have been made from fallen and replanted oak, by wood sculpturer Lorraine Botterill.

A bench was originally proposed for Wimbledon Common in a crowdfunding campaign in 2020, which was put on hold after the Covid-19 outbreak. Now the project has been revived with the help of Wimbledon in Sporting History (WiSH), and moved to Plough Lane.

Wombles Day runs from 9am to 6pm at the stadium and includes:

unveiling of the Orinoco Womble Bench by the Beresford family, Orinoco, Bungo and Alderney (11am, close to the Gate 3 entrance)
meet the Wombles – Uncle Bulgaria, Madame Cholet and Haydon (12pm, inside the stadium)
Wandle Wombles litter-picking and recycling group launch and first community clean-up (12pm)
unveiling of a wood-carved sculpture of Roy Law and Dave Beasant, the two captains that led the Dons to Wembley glory in 1963 and 1988 (11.30am, close to Gate 2)
stadium tours including access to the Greatest Story exhibition
live music from Dick Philpot and the launch of the Wombles From The Lane charity CD
special commemorative T-shirts presented to children
giveaways, prizes, raffles and games
food and drink stalls

You can find directions to the Cherry Red Records Stadium with a map showing Gate 3 on the AFC Wimbledon website.

John Lynch, Managing Director at WiSH, said: “We are delighted that members of the Beresford family are coming along to do the grand unveiling and we will be making history as it will be the first Womble installation in the country. This will be a fun event that families can enjoy, but it’s also for a real community cause as we launch a litter-picking activity that we hope will become a regular event.”