Mr Tumble 'overwhelmed' by crowds
Children's TV star Mr Tumble said he was "overwhelmed" at the hundreds of fans who turned up to his free show at the Merry Hill centre – causing dismay when many missed out on tickets.
Families, some of whom had queued outside the centre from 6am, were unable to get tickets to see the CBeebies star's four shows yesterday.
Around 1,000 tickets were available for the performances, with 250 up for grabs for each showing. But the "unprecedented and unexpected" demand meant many hoping to see the early shows left disappointed.
TV presenter Justin Fletcher, aged 38, is known to his devoted young fans as TV character Mr Tumble, stayed upbeat about the scramble to see his show.
"I was overwhelmed to see that so many people had come out to see the shows, I never expected that many and I want to thank everyone for their support," he said.
"The people up here are absolutely fantastic. It was a special show as instead of being faraway like a normal audience in an arena, the children were closer to the stage."
The tickets gave people wristbands to get into a special area in front of the stage – with unlucky families who missed out having to watch from further back.
One of the earlier unlucky mothers was Helen Blount, aged 34, who had taken her son Lennon, aged three, from Aster Way, Walsall to see the show. She said: "It was not worth standing around here waiting all afternoon to see the performance if we might not have been able to get a good enough view."
Westfield marketing manager, Kelly Reed, yesterday said free VIP tickets for future shows at the centre were going to be offered to disappointed parents.
