A PARADE and carnival featuring four specially-built giants will take place in Birkenhead next month.

The colourful characters, each standing 14 feet tall, will be created during 20 workshops in the town's Grange & Pyramids Shopping Centre throughout August.

They will then star in a parade taking place on Sunday, September 8, in nearby Hamilton Square.

Starting at 12.30pm, the event kicks off a giant game of hide and seek lasting from Monday, September 9 to November 1.

Each colourful creation will be a giant representation of a well-known Wirral character and there is a chance for the public to help create them.

The workshops taking place at Grange & Pyramids Shopping Centre will run over two weeks.

They start on Saturday, August 17 with two being held each day, the first from 10am-noon and the second from 1-3pm.

Following the first workshop, more will be held from Monday August 19 to Friday August 23, and then after a break for the bank holiday weekend, they will resume from Tuesday August 27 to Friday August 30.

Derek Millar, the Grange & Pyramids' company's commercial director, has given space free of charge to The Stronger Communities Initiative Assembly (SCIA) to host the workshops.

There will be 30 places at each session, all offered on a first come, first served basis.

The giant-building exercise is the very big idea of Wirral Methodist Housing Association's community liaison officer Jill Carter.

The organisation is a member of the SCIA, a partnership made up of the police, housing providers and local resident groups who work together to regenerate their communities.

Jill said: "I saw the Carnival of Giants staged in Chester this June and was so impressed by it that I was determined to try and arrange something similar in Birkenhead.

"We want people of all ages to come along and help us make the giants which will represent famous characters associated with the area.

"These are the Birkenhead shipbuilder John Laird, Mother Redcap who was infamous for running an inn on the Wirral coast which became the centre of the smuggling trade centuries ago, Lottie Dodd who was born on the Wirral and won the tennis ladies’ championship at Wimbledon five times, and a monk from the famous Birkenhead Priory."

Derek Millar said: "We are the main shopping centre at the heart of Wirral's largest town so our own size and locality on the Wirral makes us the ideal place to host the workshops which we have provided the space for free of charge.

"It is fantastic for us to play our part in such an inspiring community project and I think the free workshops will be a fantastic distraction for children and their parents during the long summer holidays."

More information about the giant building workshops is from www.grangeandpyramids.co.uk