Celebrations were in full swing last night (Thursday 24 October) after an auction of 41 penguin sculptures raised £330,000 for St Richard’s Hospice.
The great Waddle of Worcester, a Wild in Art event brought to the city by St Richard’s, captured the hearts of the community and attracted thousands of visitors this summer.
With more than 200 guests, the auction sponsored by Hawksmoor Investment Management and hosted by DRPG in their Hartlebury studio complex, was a huge success – with people bidding in the room and online to give their favourite flippered friends a forever home. Compered by Richard ‘Hursty’ Hurst, events were overseen by auctioneer Philip Serrell.
Sara Matthews, Business Development Manager for St Richard’s Hospice, said: “It was an incredible night at auction and we’re thrilled our happy huddle raised £330,000 for our care. Once our pop-up shop, raffle and community fundraising is calculated and added in, this will be our most successful art trail ever in terms of funds raised!”
“Government funding only covers around 20% of our costs. As a charity it means we need to raise £9.6 million of the £12 million we need to keep vital services running this year for Worcestershire families.
“So, we send a heartfelt thank you to our amazing community for supporting us not just on nights like the auction but each and every day – we simply couldn’t do it without you!”
Over the summer, forty big penguins and forty small paraded through the city’s streets and open spaces in the hospice’s fortieth year of care.
All the large penguins and one special chick, Ice-Ickle, went to auction while the remaining 40 penguin chicks returned to the schools and community groups who decorated them as a legacy of the project.
Each penguin sold for between £4,000 and £21,000 with two sculptures achieving £20,000 or more under the hammer.
Bidders came from far and wide with a range of reasons for taking part. For Compco Fire Systems, their motivation was to rescue a penguin who had an eventful art trail experience.
Matt Baker, CEO at Compco Fire Systems, which is a longstanding supporter of St Richard’s, said: “Our business is located close to the riverside where the beautiful Kingfisher Azure was sadly vandalised and thrown into the river. We wanted to bring him home to his rightful place by the river where he can live happily forever.”
Mr Baker added: “Being a local business, employing 250 people, many of our team’s lives have been or will be touched by the work of the hospice. Our previous Managing Director spent his last days at St Richard’s so it’s a charity that’s close to our hearts and one we want to support into the future.”
DRPG, which was a key partner in the great Waddle of Worcester over the summer and helped create an ‘Art of Giving’ pebble art digital installation, hosted the event and streamed it live from its Hartlebury studios.
Dale Parmenter, CEO of DRPG, said: “We’ve loved being a partner in the great Waddle of Worcester this summer and producing the ‘Art of Giving’ penguin pebble digital installation. The whole team have been so excited to be able to support St Richard’s Hospice and really push the boundaries of creativity. We were also honoured to host the auction once again and put on such a memorable show.”
The great Waddle of Worcester is supported by Presenting Partners; Crowngate, DRPG, Worcester City Council and Worcestershire Ambassadors, Community and Education Partner; Worcester BID and Media Partners; the Worcester News and BBC Hereford & Worcester.
You can follow the great Waddle of Worcester at: https://www.facebook.com/WaddleOfWorcester/, https://twitter.com/WaddleOfWorc and https://www.Instagram.com/WaddleOfWorcester