The Deputy Mayor of Mansfield joined shoppers and colleagues at Four Seasons Shopping Centre on Wednesday (9 March) to cap a week of celebrations marking the centre’s 40th birthday.

The sound of 70s disco party music filled the malls throughout the day, birthday goodie bags were handed out to shoppers and younger children were entertained with craft activities and balloon animal displays.

The Deputy Mayor of Mansfield Cllr Mick Barton then joined shoppers, centre management and long-serving staff and retailer colleagues for a ceremonial cutting of the fabulous 40 birthday cake.

“After kicking off the celebrations with a fantastic weekend filled with family fun, we wanted to do something really special to commemorate the day the centre first opened its doors four decades ago,” said Rebekah O’Neill, Centre Manager at Four Seasons. “We’re thrilled the Deputy Mayor was able to take time out of his busy schedule to come along and help us mark this landmark birthday, and to see so many of our shoppers here too is just wonderful.”

More than 24 million customers have visited Four Seasons since it first opened its doors on 9 March, 1976, and thousands of local people have worked at the centre over the last four decades.

“In the run up to the celebrations we ran an online appeal for people to reminisce and share their memories of the centre with us,” said Rebekah. “We had a tremendous response and we installed memory boards in the centre which became a huge talking point. We also put together a video walk down memory lane for our Facebook page which was massively popular – so far it has been viewed by more than 22,000 people, which is just amazing.”

Rebekah said everyone at the centre had thoroughly enjoyed the birthday festivities. “It has been absolutely wonderful to see the local community joining in the excitement,” she said.
“We have seen so many familiar faces come along to help us celebrate. Our birthday-themed Buzzy B clubs at the weekend were a huge success and today we’ve had hundreds more people come along to congratulate us and show their support.

“It’s been such a huge week for us,” said Rebekah. “I’d like to thank everyone – all the staff, the customers and their children – for making our birthday so very special and for helping us show that Four Seasons is still fabulous at forty.”

Deputy Mayor of Mansfield Cllr Mick Barton and Four Seasons Centre Manager Rebekah O’Neill (front centre) are pictured with long-serving staff and shoppers.