Fire destroys historical Aardman artefacts

On the day that Aardman celebrated a chart-topping opening weekend in the US with Wallace & Gromit 'The Curse of the Were-rabbit', a fire tore through the company's warehouse in Bristol.
The facility, used to store sets, awards, and historical artefacts, is not a part of the Aardman studio, and the company reports that no Aardman staff have been affected. However, number of irreplaceable storyboards, awards, props and pieces of film memorabilia from Aardman's 30 year history have been lost.
None of the material from the new Wallace & Gromit film ‘The Curse of the Were-rabbit’ was in storage at the time, but many original sets from 'Chicken Run', 'Creature Comforts', and the three 'Wallace & Gromit' short films, that were used for reference and toured around the world for exhibition, were destroyed.
This will not in any way affect existing or future Aardman productions as 100% of sets and props are purpose built for each production.
(GB)