Dozens of Pigs Gone Wild sculptures will be looking their swinest when they go under the hammer in Trinity Park this evening.
All 39 are set to go to market tonight – during an auction which is tipped to raise thousands for St Elizabeth Hospice.
The larger-than-life sculptures, which brought joy to the streets of Ipswich this summer during the Pigs Gone Wild trail, will be auctioned off with the target of raising £100,000.
The likes of Ed Sheer-Ham, Hamlet, Hedgepig and Major Tim Pig will be lining Trinity Park’s events centre, welcoming guests as they arrive and saying their farewells to the hundreds of people due to attend the sold-out auction.
Pigs Gone Wild project manager Norman Lloyd said: “We are very excited for the auction tonight and we can’t wait to see who wins each pig.
“Each of our stunning sculptures are unique and incredible in their own way and I’m sure there will be a buyer for each of them. It would be lovely if some of them were bought by local organisations to display somewhere in the town to keep a lasting reminder of the trail in Ipswich.
“Either way, all funds raised will go to St Elizabeth Hospice, providing care and support to people in the community living with progressive illnesses such as cancer, motor neurone disease and heart failure.”
Missing from the auction is Dr Trott and Nurse Honey-Cured – who is now sitting proudly in her permanent home at St Elizabeth Hospice in Foxhall Road.
She was donated to the charity after Ipswich Star and East Anglian Daily Times readers helped raise more than £5,500 to save the pig from going to market earlier this week.
Organisers believe Ed Sheer-Ham will be one of the pigs to watch, after his namesake Ed Sheeran revealed he will sign his piggy counterpart for the highest bidder.
The Suffolk superstar also pledged to write a personal message for them.
Tonight’s auction starts at 7pm at Trinity Park’s events centre, and will be live-tweeted.
Follow the action using the hashtag #PigsGoneWild.
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