REMEMBER when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were THE toy to have in the 1990s?

The cartoon featuring Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Splinter and April spawned popular films too.

A relic of that first boon is still easily seen in Warrington today.

When the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle film was released in the 1990s, a pet terrapin craze swept the country.

As the pets inevitably grew in size, some became unwanted, and many people decided to abandon their exotic pets in Walton Gardens’ pond.

As a result, in 1997, the Warrington Guardian published the story: ‘Unwanted and abandoned…exotic pets craze turns sour.’ The terrapins continue to live in the pond today.

They can also be spotted in other ponds such as Ackers Pit.

The pond at Walton, built in the 1920s for Lady Daresbury, is a magnet for wildlife and home to numerous carp, frogs, toads, newts and insects. In the 1980s the pond was refurbished, and new features including the waterfall were added.