It has remained a closely guarded secret since plans were hatched six months ago – but tonight’s the night we discover what will follow last year’s hugely successful Pigs Gone Wild art trail in Ipswich.

Details of the follow-up collaboration between St Elizabeth Hospice and Wild in Art are set to be unveiled this evening so stay with us as we bring you live updates from the launch night.

Until now, only the organisers have been privy to what the sculptures will be – but we do know there will be about 50 of them dotted around town in 2019.

The Pigs Gone Wild art trail drew a quarter of a million people to Ipswich last year.

It raised £200,000 for St Elizabeth Hospice, which auctioned off each pig after the event.

Some were snapped up by businesses and remain on display around the town, while smaller junior pigs were returned to the schools and groups that created them.

Earlier this month, project manager Norman Lloyd, who also led Pigs Gone Wild and has known for six months what the sculptures will be, admitted that keeping the secret had been hard work.

He said people were going to love the new sculptures – 20 of which had already secured sponsors.

Organisers will again be working with schools and youngsters to produce ‘junior sculptures’.

Pigs Gone Wild ran from the end of June to the beginning of September last summer.

As well as being a fundraising success, it strengthened opinions of Ipswich among surveyed visitors, with more than 70% viewing the town as a better place for arts and culture, and 87% thinking the trail created a stronger sense of community.

Research by Zing Insights showed half of those surveyed had been encouraged to visit the town more often.

The Pigs Gone Wild trail comprised 40 pigs and 30 piglets on a trail throughout Ipswich over 10 weeks.

Families were able to use a paper map or download an app to locate each of the pigs, marking them off or scanning the QR code attached to the stand.

Ed Sheer-Ham was one of the sculptures to be auctioned off following the trail.

The pig was designed by Norfolk-based artist, Martin J Wall, and inspired by Suffolk’s own Ed Sheeran, who was so taken by the creation that he bought it at auction for £6,200.