'Silly money on silly people doing silly things'

The Harris Museum and Art Gallery has been given permission to invite internationally-renowned cartoonists Simon Grennan and Christopher Sperandio to produce an animated film based on the true-life experiences of Prestonians.

As the Citizen reported last week, the council is handing over £7,850 for the project, £500 of which will be used to fly Christopher Sperandio into the country from New York.

The project, designed to tell the stories of typical Preston folk who use the Harris Museum, has provoked anger from councillors who believe the money could have been better spent.

Coun George Wilkins said: "We have people like Nick Park producing Oscar-winning productions like Wallace and Gromit coming from Preston, so we go and spend the money on getting some one from America.

"There are people at the University of Central Lancashire who, I have no doubt, could perform just as good a job and would appreciate the support much more.

"I thought it was an April Fools joke when I read about it."

Other councillors have supported Coun Wilkins, arguing that the project has already been tried and tested by artists in other cities around the world, so the money should be spent on something new.

Coun Pat Whittle added: "If we are going to spend silly money on silly people doing silly things, they may as well be local people." The museum has now appealed to Prestonians to submit stories about life in Preston.

The video will be available to just a select few Harris Museum supporters when it is completed in September.

Senior exhibitions officer James Green said: "The duo have an international reputation as cartoonists and the prospect of them being in Preston is very exciting."

Stories should be sent to: Animation Project, c/o Harris Museum, Preston. by May 7, 1999.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.