Island's blonde hedgehogs inspire stories
KNITTING a toy version of Alderney's iconic blonde hedgehog inspired a local woman to spin yarns for an enchanting children's book.
Moira Brooks-Effard has penned a six-story book called The Adventures of Herbie, the Blonde Alderney Hedgehog.
His bristly grin is a familiar sight around St Anne these days, but his adventures came about quite by chance.
'Two or three years ago, I was running the museum shop when someone asked me if we had any blonde hedgehog toys,' Moira Brooks-Effard said.
'The custodians asked me if I could get some – but all I could find on the internet was brown ones. So I found a pattern and knitted them – and they all sold out.'
On a whim, she wove a short story to go with the toys: Herbie and the Cabbages, with the owner of said vegetable a Mr Roger, inspired by her allotment-owning next-door neighbour.
The stories kept coming. 'I'd see something when I was out walking, like blackberries, or remember something, and it would trigger the start of a new story,' she said.
