NEXT month will mark 25 years since the launch of Merry Hill Shopping Centre’s popular – but short lived – monorail service.

The centre’s joint owners, intu Properties, are getting set to celebrate the anniversary of the loved and lamented Black Country icon on Wednesday June 1, with events, activities and memorabilia displays.

But they are also looking for local people who have memories of the monorail, in particular those who rode the tracks on its inaugural trip on June 1, 1991.

They also want to get in touch with children from Quarry Bank Primary School and Mount Pleasant Primary School who visited the station in 1993 as a project and drew pictures of it – as intu still have an archive of these drawings.

A spokeswoman for intu Merry Hill said: “Our revolutionary monorail was loved by many, so as part of the silver celebrations we will be minting a limited edition ‘Monorail Coin’ and will produce a monorail memorial exhibit, to display our memorabilia and your memories and photos.

“So, if you were involved with the Merry Hill Monorail in any way, or simply have fond and fun memories of it in its prime, please do get in touch with us – we’d love to hear from you.”

Even though the monorail was broken up in 1996 and sold to a shopping centre in Australia – where it is still in use – the main station is still preserved inside Merry Hill above Marks and Spencer, complete with turnstiles, signage and platforms.

Items from the stations have been saved and will be put on display at the memorial exhibit inside the centre as part of the celebrations.

One the centre’s celebratory activities will be a ‘make and race monorail’ during its ‘make it amazing’ children’s events throughout May half term.

To submit your own monorail memories, email merryhill.community@intu.co.uk