The bleak Willy Wonka-themed children's event in Glasgow was cancelled after parents complained.
The bleak Willy Wonka-themed children's event in Glasgow was cancelled after parents complained.
The bleak Willy Wonka-themed children's event in Glasgow was cancelled after parents complained.
The bleak Willy Wonka-themed children's event in Glasgow was cancelled after parents complained.

Props from disastrous Willy Wonka experience auctioned off to help Gaza


Tim Stickings
  • English
  • Arabic

Props from the Willy Wonka-themed “chocolate experience” that turned into a comically bleak viral sensation have been sold to raise money for a Palestinian charity.

Backdrops from the dismal children’s event in Glasgow, Scotland, were found in a bin, passed on to a record store and auctioned on eBay for more than £2,000 ($2,550).

The seller, Monorail Music, said the money would go to the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, which has embarked on two emergency missions into Gaza during Israel's war.

Michael Kasparis, a manager at the record store, said the sale was an “amazing result”.

A backdrop from the 'chocolate experience' in Glasgow that promised so much but delivered so little. PA
A backdrop from the 'chocolate experience' in Glasgow that promised so much but delivered so little. PA

Staff watched the online bidding “like you’d watch the end of a football game”, Mr Kasparis said.

“It was £900 and then jumped to £1,050, then one second before it closed it was £2,050 and it came through at £2,250,” he said. “We’d thought if it goes into four figures we’d be very happy so it was a pretty amazing result.”

Melanie Ward, chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians, said the charity was grateful for the donation. “We hope the winner of these golden ticket items is pleased with their purchase,” she joked.

The items included rainbow and confectionery-themed backdrops that hung forlornly in the Glasgow warehouse, where families arrived expecting a “chocolate fantasy” inspired by Roald Dahl’s eccentric sweet maker.

Instead they were met with half-hearted decorations, embarrassed Oompa-Loompas and stingy rations of sweets, causing such disappointment that the police were called, the event was abandoned and internet hilarity ensued.

Decorations hang forlornly in the Glasgow warehouse before they were discovered in a bin
Decorations hang forlornly in the Glasgow warehouse before they were discovered in a bin

Mr Kasparis said he was “slightly worried that the joke had gone but it doesn’t look like it’s going away any time soon”.

“I personally was a little bit worried that the auction was a bit silly for the cause but we thought if it raises money that’s the most important thing,” he said.

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The specs

Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)

More from Armen Sarkissian
Sheikh Zayed's poem

When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.

Your love is ruling over my heart

Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it

Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home

You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness

Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins

You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge

You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm

Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you

You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it

Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by. 

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Healthcare spending to double to $2.2 trillion rupees

Launched a 641billion-rupee federal health scheme

Allotted 200 billion rupees for the recapitalisation of state-run banks

Around 1.75 trillion rupees allotted for privatisation and stake sales in state-owned assets

RESULT

Bayern Munich 5 Eintrracht Frankfurt 2
Bayern:
 Goretzka (17'), Müller (41'), Lewandowski (46'), Davies (61'), Hinteregger (74' og)    
Frankfurt: Hinteregger (52', 55')

RESULTS

6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1.600m
Winner: Miller’s House, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).

7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Kanood, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.

7.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Gervais, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

8.15pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Important Mission, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.

8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Firnas, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.

9.25pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Zhou Storm, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

Brief scores:

Liverpool 3

Mane 24', Shaqiri 73', 80'

Manchester United 1

Lingard 33'

Man of the Match: Fabinho (Liverpool)

Updated: March 15, 2024, 11:36 AM`