THE ORIGINAL DINOSAURS
As previously mentioned, (SEE BLOG 1), the original dinosaurs here were very basic and their movements were limited. However at the time animatronics were a novelty, and there weren’t many other dinosaur attractions in the country. In fact I cannot remember any others existing at that time. Our valley setting was fantastic for Dinosaurs, very atmospheric. It was the perfect background for these giant critters.
Around the year 2000, a couple approached my father offering their services to build dinosaurs for him. Tom, an American, and his partner Siobhan had previously worked for a film studio in Hollywood creating special effects for movies. They had now relocated to the UK and wanted to continue to use their skills. My father was very excited and allowed them to have their very own dinosaur workshop in the manor walkway so visitors could watch them working.
MEGHAN!
The first impressive dinosaur they built looked similar to an Allosaurus, a large meat- eating dinosaur that lived in prehistoric North America. My father named it ‘Meghan’ after my Welsh grandmother, whose caustic humour was legendary! Meghan’s movements were mesmerising and she was far more realistic than any other dinosaur we had seen….apart from real ones of course! She was chained up on a stand, located in what is now the end of our dinosaur museum, periodically waking up and scaring the kids. She was a massive hit with our visitors.
Unfortunately Meghan only lasted the season, her skin had started splitting, and the mechanics were beginning to sound a bit clunky so we needed to be more creative with her setting. At the time we had a brilliant artist working here called Sam.
Sam was responsible for all the paintings in our Tomb of the Pharaohs and the Dinosaur Museum. He painted a dinosaur scene on fine nylon netting and we positioned Meghan (the dinosaur not my grandmother) behind it. When visitors entered into the fully lit up room all they could see was the painted scenery. Suddenly the lights in the room dimmed, thunder and lightning lit up the area behind the netting, and Meghan started roaring. You could see her moving behind the netting. It was brilliant and it hid all of Meghan’s disabilities. We managed to keep her working for another year before she totally fell apart. RIP Meghan, I must add that her namesake, my irrepressible grandmother, lived to the grand age of 103 bless her soul.
The Creation of Our Infamous T-Rex
Tom and Siobhan, our dinosaur makers, decided they wanted to go self-employed to enable them to expand their model making…and I suspect to be able to earn more money!
They approached my father with the idea of building him the most realistic T-Rex in the UK; full sized; hand sculpted with incredible movements. And all for a measly 100k! Dad thought it was a great idea; he never gave the money a consideration. In those days we were continually surviving on overdrafts; banks were far more accommodating back then. ‘Build and they will come’ Dad echoed Walt Disney’s philosophy. ‘This T-Rex will put Combe Martin Wildlife & Dinosaur Park on the map!’
Tom and Siobhan rented a unit in Barnstaple and built the dinosaur in stages. It involved many people to build it, make the mechanisms, sculpt the skin, program it on cubase, provide a sound system etc; if I recall correctly the whole process took over a year.
Finally the T-Rex was here! To launch him we held a press day with local and national journalists attending. He was the UK’s only full sized T-Rex and, according to critics, was more realistic than the model in the natural history museum. His movements were brilliant. His tail, arms and head all moved, his mouth opened with spittle dripping from his mouth, his eyes blinked. He was fantastic.
That was 25 years ago and he is slowly falling apart; aren’t we all! Over the years we have had to create a harness to stabilize him after he toppled over, his head has fallen off to the dismay of younger visitors, his tongue has fallen out, some of his teeth are now missing and many of his movements have ceased to be.
Every winter we try to patch him up as much as we can to keep him going. He still wakes up on the hour, every hour, but there is usually a very nervous member of staff watching to make sure all is well. He is almost near retirement. However we still think he is the most realistic looking T-Rex in the country and it will be further down the line before he’s put out to pasture. Our young visitors are still fascinated by the old decrepit thing! Long may he continue.
