Grandkids on top secret mission to bring cancelled Tattoo to Nanny Joyce's doorstep

Joyce Meikle hasn't missed the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo since it started in 1979 — and her grandkids aren't about to let COVID-19 change that.

With the popular event cancelled this summer, 23-year-old Allison Meikle and her cousins are busy creating their own tattoo to bring to their 88-year-old grandmother's Halifax doorstep in early July.

They're calling it The Royal Nanny International Tattoo.

"Our family has made it a very, very special tradition to attempt to have everyone all together and go to the Tattoo," Meikle told CBC's Information Morning on Tuesday. "We end up taking up two rows right in the front, so it's definitely great and she [Nanny Joyce] gets very excited every year."

Meikle came up with the idea when she came across a handful of vintage Tattoo T-shirts while thrift shopping over the weekend.

"I thought I'll just grab these, we will put them on and kind of all march to Nanny's house and play some bagpipes on Spotify," she said.

But when she posted her idea on social media, it got much bigger than she ever expected.

By the next morning, she had some 1,200 offers of support from people as far away as Belgium eager to help the Meikle grandkids surprise Nanny with a tailored Tattoo all of her own.

People volunteered to drum, play the bagpipes and Highland dance.

Meikle even had members of CFB Shearwater get in touch, "which we're super excited about because our grandfather was in the Navy and Nanny always jokes about how her parents didn't approve of her falling for a sailor, so she's definitely going to enjoy men walking around in uniform," she said.

The mission is top secret, so Meikle is urging people who know Nanny Joyce, to keep this all under wraps.

She said her grandmother doesn't have social media or read online news so she doesn't expect the word to get out.

The plans are still being finalized, but the family hopes to hold a parade of sorts with groups of performers marching by Nanny's house, although Meikle said public health rules will govern what the final event looks like.

Scott Long, the executive producer and managing director of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, quickly got in touch with Meikle when people told him about the family's plans.

"It was a good sort of warm and fuzzy feeling when I saw that," he said. "It was nice to see that people are missing it, I guess, that we're important and we mean that much to people."

'The sweetest person ever'

He said it was a big disappointment to cancel the Tattoo back in March for the first time in its 41-year history.

But he's hoping his experience co-ordinating a cast of over 1,000 people in front of crowds of 6,000 will help the Meikles pull off a Tattoo that's smaller, but no less special.

"We're helping sort of co-ordinate with logistics and rein in some of the overwhelming responses," he said. "Why not, you know? There's no show this year, so let's put our energy into doing something nice for someone."

Long said the Tattoo is also releasing a video this week that's dedicated to Nanny Joyce and the Meikle family.

On Tuesday, the organizers of We Are Young, a volunteer-run association that grants wishes for senior Nova Scotians, agreed to take on organizing the event along with staff from the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo.

Meikle said she can't wait to see her grandmother's reaction when the surprise Tattoo is revealed.

"She's the sweetest person ever," she said.