FIRSTBORN was a nipper just out of nappies when Eureka! the museum for children in Halifax first opened its doors.

It became a fairly regular haunt of ours over the next few years, until he went to school and it was Secondborn’s turn to have days out.

Eureka! was always a good stand-by for rainy days. The Boy especially enjoyed pushing one of the miniature supermarket trolleys around the miniature supermarket, collecting handfuls of plastic fruit and vegetables. He also took a shine to the musical stepping stones and laser harp.

But the highlight of every visit, after watching Archimedes immerse in his bath, was always a trip to the Me and My Body Gallery to talk to Scoot the robot, pictured inset.

Scoot may have looked like a tin can but to my toddler son he was a wondrous, all-seeing creature.

"What’s your mummy got in her tummy?" Scoot once asked him - the behind-the-scenes operative having clocked my expanded waistline.

"It’s a baby," said Firstborn, who had been to the hospital with me the day before and had seen an ultrasound examination performed. "It’s living inside my mummy but will come out soon."

I was made to promise (by the robot) that we’d bring the baby in to show to Scoot after it was born. It was a promise we kept. "Here she is," said Firstborn proudly to Scoot several weeks later, secure in the knowledge that the robot had been patiently waiting for us to return with the baby.

On another occasion The Boy shared the news that our cat had died. Scoot was suitably sympathetic.

I suspect that over the past 20 years Scoot has been the recipient of a myriad pieces of information and snippets of family life. Children who might have been too shy to talk to an adult were more than happy to chatter away to the little robot. He could probably write one of those books on ‘what children say’.

However, until this week I’d quite forgotten about Scoot and our trips to visit him.

And then on Tuesday I got an email from Eureka! announcing the robot’s retirement.

He is, it said, to be replaced by a new robot who will reflect, as the Press release explained: "the look, feel and issues that we now want to explore."

Ah, I thought, it comes to us all in the end. We are replaced by someone younger and funkier, who is more in tune with the issues of the day. Poor old Scoot.

Scoot’s mothballing coincides with the £2.9m redevelopment of the museum’s Me and My Body Gallery. Funded largely by The Wellcome Trust and designed with health experts in tow, Eureka! promises the new gallery will be more relevant to the next generation of children.

Hopefully the new robot will be as good a listener as Scoot. It was his strength. I always thought that every child should have a Scoot; an impartial, interested and wise friend.

But Scoot, while obsolete, will not be forgotten. If , like me, you have memories of the talking tin can then Eureka! has promised to create a space in the museum for visitors to share their stories. For details check out www.eureka.org.uk