The pigs have gone, leaving a gaping hole in the town centre – but you could help to preserve the legacy of this successful art project.
Today we are calling on readers to help us say a big thank you to the charity which brought the 40 brightly-coloured pig statues to Ipswich by raising enough money to save the hospice’s pig from going to market.
‘Dr Trott and Nurse Honey Cured’ was brought in mid-way through the Pigs Gone Wild trail to temporarily replace Major Henry Wigglesworth at Giles’ Circus.
But when the battle-ready pig returned, Dr Trott and Nurse Honey Cured returned to the entrance lobby at St Elizabeth Hospice, in Foxhall Road.
Staff, patients and relatives will be devastated to see the pig go but with your help we could secure it as a lasting legacy to this ground-breaking project.
If we can raise £5,000 through our Hog for Our Hospice campaign, the pig will be spared the auctioneer’s hammer on September 22 and can be retained by the hospice. The money will be added to that raised from the sale of the other 39 pigs and enable to hospice to continue their invaluable work with patients from east Suffolk.
Norman Lloyd, Pigs Gone Wild project manager, said: “Since we revealed Dr Trott and Nurse Honey Cured and have seen how our patients, staff and volunteers have fallen in love with her, we’ve been hoping that somehow we could keep her.
“We have seen how much the local community, as well as national, and even international, visitors, have adored the pigs and so many have expressed their sadness at the trail coming to an end – and we feel the same. It will be strange to live in a pig-free world, so to be able to keep one of the pigs at the hospice, as a legacy of this extraordinary, incredible event, will be the icing on the cake for us.”
Brad Jones, editor of the Ipswich Star, said: “The Pigs Gone Wild trail has been such a fantastic success, and really put the town on the map. We’re all sad to see it go.
“But this campaign is a way of Ipswich saying ‘thank you’ to the hospice. Many people were involved and worked so hard to make it happen.
“So I hope everyone who enjoyed the trail will make a small donation. It would be a great way of preserving the Pigs Gone Wild legacy - and you’ll be helping the wonderful work of the hospice at the same time.”
To make a donation, see the Hog for Our Hospice fundraising page here
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