'How I hunted down an Alton Towers swan boat for my home'

Jenny Walker was devastated to learn an "iconic" Alton Towers swan boat that stood in the garden of a home in her Staffordshire Moorlands village for more than 15 years had been sold.

A local landmark visible from Wetley Rocks' main road, it was one of 16 of the fibre-glass boats auctioned off or given away after the theme park ride shut in 2003.

As a prospective buyer of the house, it was one of the first things she asked about, and once her family moved in, she became obsessed with hunting down a replacement.

"To be honest, I didn't know it was going to be as difficult as it was," she said.

The boat had represented more than just a quirky landmark. Its loss, last March, was felt keenly by the local community, Walker explained.

"We were absolutely devastated when we got told that the swan had been recently sold to somebody quite local," she said. "It's so iconic in the area and so loved."

Determined to restore what she saw as a slice of local history, she began to post messages online and knock doors in her quest for a replacement.

But despite reaching out to collectors and owners of former ride materials, she was repeatedly told the swans were just not on the market.

"As soon as we went down the rabbit hole trying to find a swan, we realised how people no longer want to sell the swans, and how collectible they've become," she said.

Then she got wind of one at a LGBTQ+ venue in Walsall.

"I became such a stalker, I'll be honest. I just would not stop hounding this poor guy."

Zac Humpage, licensee of the Lion Bar & Club and "a massive theme park enthusiast", was initially not at all keen to sell one of his most prized pieces.

"It was something I wanted and cherished and kept for seven or eight years," he said.

It had been repurposed into a performance stage, and also been used for photo and dancing opportunities over the years.

Walker "really had to twist my arm", he remembered. But her story moved him.

"To put it back home, in Stoke in the Moorlands for the community, it took my heart.

"I thought it was going to a good home."

Despite his eventual decision to let the swan fly its nest, he said he would miss it hugely.

"How do you replace an iconic swan from Alton Towers? That's the million dollar question. I will try and find an answer to that so watch this space."

One of the venue's performers Trixie Lee remembered bobbing along on Alton Tower's swans as a youngster.

"The fact that I managed to perform on that, I never thought that was going to happen, not when you're riding on it round Alton Towers Lake.

"It wasn't a cabaret stage, it was the Swan, that's what everybody knew it as.

"It has a little bit of a legend it's left behind for here, that's for sure."

The Alton Towers swans have washed up at other locations across the Staffordshire Moorlands, including a caravan park.

BBC Radio Stoke even found a home for one in 2004 in a Nantwich school.

While most have stayed local, others have been taken abroad.

Walker said she "couldn't believe it" when Humpage finally agreed to sell.

Her newly-acquired swan was brought up the M6 on a transporter, which the family followed all the way home.

As it was winched into the empty space vacated by its predecessor, passing lorries tooted their horns.

Walker said her family would treasure it forever. "It's just such a nostalgic thing really for a lot of people... their great memories of Alton Towers, going as a family and enjoying the swans.

"This house was meant to have the swan, and the swan is absolutely going to stay."

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