Shop windows in Cockermouth will have a festive feel over the next few weeks as a book is brought to life.

A collection of churches in Cockermouth have come together to create a fun trail for youngsters in the town.

Based on the book ‘The Longest Wait’, by Alison Brewis, Victoria Jones and others from Lorton Street Methodist Church, knit and natter group have made a selection of little children in knitted doll form.

And these can now be spotted occupying pride of place in some of the town centre shops, with 12 to be found.

Victoria, from Churches Together in Cockermouth (CITCA) did a similar event for Easter by placing knitted sheep in shop windows, which worked well with shop owners and children.

She said: “At Easter we did knitted sheep, with the message of the shepherd and we thought how can we address the Christmas message, what about the gift of Christ?”

The dolls are all diverse and connect to stories in the family friendly book which aims to link the commercial and religious aspects of Christmas.

CITCA have worked with shop owners to place the knitted dolls in shops.

Each doll has its own name and they represent children from all around the world.

The dolls are called: Asriel, Gabrielle, Hezekiah, Tobias, Hannah, Jia Li, Chongan, Doaa, Hurriyyah, Iwan, Janina and Chavez.

Victoria added: “It may well be a long wait for some but the gift at the end is worth it, Christ in Christmas for all.”

Churches Together have linked in various activities that are happening over the festive period, such as the Christingle construction and service on Sunday December 22.

She said: “No one church dominates, we all work together to show the services that will be going on across Christmas, the first significant one is in Lorton Street Church this Sunday at 10.30am with the advent service.”

CITCA are hosting various activities for all ages throughout the advent season.

More activities can be found on their website www.ctica.co.uk when it goes live on Friday November 29.