Garden Festival 'zone' | Health and Wellbeing |
Sponsor, if appropriate | Royal Bank of Scotland / Hewden Stewart Plant Hire |
Type of object | Pavilion, building or other structure |
Current situation | Unknown |
Notes | Dismantled after the Festival and rebuilt as part of the 1990 Gateshead Garden Festival. Location after that unknown (correspondence ex. John Banks, May 2023). |
Archives: USP Posts
USP Post Types
BT Roadphone


Sponsor, if appropriate | British Telecom |
Type of object | Vehicle, boat or ship |
Current situation | Known |
Current location, if known | Milton Keynes Museum |
Notes | The BT Roadphone was a promotional device constructed on a Ford Transit chassis which allowed telephone calls to be made my members of the public. It is currently (2023) held by Milton Keynes Museum as part of their Communications collection. (Our thanks to Ian Green and the staff of Milton Keynes Museum for this information.) |
Teddy Bears’ Picnic
Garden Festival 'zone' | Health and Wellbeing |
Sponsor, if appropriate | Moray District Council |
Type of object | Pavilion, building or other structure |
Current situation | Unknown |
Peacock display
Garden Festival 'zone' | The Rendezvous |
Sponsor, if appropriate | Moray District Council |
Type of object | Pavilion, building or other structure |
Current situation | Unknown |
Reaper (FR 958)
Garden Festival 'zone' | Water and Maritime |
Type of object | Vehicle, boat or ship |
Current situation | Known |
Current location, if known | Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther |
Notes | The full history of the 'Reaper' can be read at the Scottish Fisheries Museum website. |
VIC 27/Auld Reekie/Vital Spark


Sponsor, if appropriate | Bathgate Brothers (Marine) Ltd, Edinburgh |
Type of object | Vehicle, boat or ship |
Current situation | Known |
Current location, if known | Crinan Boatyard |
Notes | Built as VIC 27 by Isaac Pimblott & Sons, Northwich, Cheshire in 1943. Working for the Ministry of War Transport, she spent some time in Liverpool, then Greenock. Following the war, taken on by the Admiralty, then - after passing through the hands of a couple of subsequent owners - purchased in 1968 by Sir James Miller and converted into a youth training vessel based at Oban. After the conversion, she was renamed 'Auld Reekie'. In 1979, sold to Bathgate Brothers (Marine) Ltd, Edinburgh, for charter. Nine years later, she appeared at the Garden Festival with banners carrying the words 'Vital Spark' covering her formal name. Apart from a brief employment as this fictional vessel in the 1994 BBC series 'The Tales of Para Handy', she spent the intervening years resting at Crinan Basin. In 2007 she was transferred to Archie McArthur and Inveraray Pier for a year, after which she was returned to the ownership of Crinan Boatyard, where she is still being restored (as of 2022). This information - and much more - at vic27.co.uk. |
Human Sundial (‘Sunclock’)
Garden Festival 'zone' | Water and Maritime |
Type of object | Sculpture or other artwork |
Current situation | Known |
Current location, if known | Carnfunnock Country Park, Northern Ireland |
Notes | 'The entire exhibition was within the 'British Summer Time' period, and so only one ring of Hour-markers was needed. When the Garden Festival finally ended, all of the "Sunclock" parts were permanently relocated in Carnfunnock Country Park, with another ring of Hour-markers also being added' (from Facebook post). Description of the 'sunclock' here. |
Darwin’s Spring (Karen Forbes)
Type of object | Pavilion, building or other structure |
Current situation | Unknown |
Phyllotaxis Scotland (Sjoerd Buisman)
Type of object | Sculpture or other artwork |
Current situation | Unknown |
Shelter (Robert Bruyninckx)
Type of object | Sculpture or other artwork |
Current situation | Unknown |