3 January 2012Last updated at 11:18

In pictures: 40 years of Fenwick festive window display

Fenwick window 1988. Photo: Newcastle City Library

Fenwick's Christmas window display has become a yearly tradition for many families in the North East. It was first shown in 1971 when the department store was looking for something that would appeal to children and adults.

Fenwick window 1986. Photo: Newcastle City Library

The display team went to Paris to look at French retail displays and was impressed by the animations in some of the city’s grands magasins. The first moving tableau at Fenwick was based on children’s television series Camberwick Green.

Fenwick window Oliver scene 2008. Photo: Fenwick

Each November a team from the Newcastle store meets the production design team to work out a storyboard for the following year’s window. The ideas and initial illustrations are agreed in the first few months of the year, and work on the models, music, lighting and sets takes several more months.

Fenwick window toymaker express scene 2010. Photo: Fenwick

When the display is removed from the windows at the beginning of January, it is returned to the production company. Various elements are used in other displays and theme parks around the world.

Fenwick window nativity scene 2004. Photo: Fenwick

The traditional windows with themes based on fairytales, nursery rhymes and pantomime characters have proved the most popular, the store said. A futuristic display in 2002 which depicted aliens and spacemen was not as well received.

People who came to view the windows 30 or 40 years ago now bring their children and grandchildren, with many families travelling from outside the region to visit. Some expats write to the store each year to ask about the latest theme and request pictures of the windows so they do not miss out on the experience.

Fenwick window Beatrix Potter scene 2007. Photo: Fenwick

For the 40th anniversary of the Newcastle institution, the 30ft-long display shows some of the windows of the past. A spokesman said: "It is certainly a challenge to come up with a new and exciting theme every year, but people would surely be very disappointed to see such a long-standing tradition come to an end."

"Judging by the crowds gathering around the windows and by the numbers of people using their mobiles to take photographs, the 40th anniversary of the Fenwick Christmas window is another great success," said a store spokesman.

Fenwick window nativity scene 2009. Photo: Fenwick

Some of the best received windows have been repeated, including the Christmas nativity story which was shown in 2004 and 2009, Gulliver’s Travels, in 1984 and 2006, a Christmas Carol, in 1980 and 1998, and Alice in Wonderland, in 1981 and 1993.

Tyne & Wear

In pictures: 40 years of Fenwick festive window display

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