Ipswich Blue, Pig ‘n’ Mix and Pepper Pig were the latest Pigs Gone Wild creations to be unmasked as the trail launch date draws ever closer.

%image(15224518, type="article-full", alt="ABP's pig, Ipswich Blue outside the Old Customs House on Ipswich Waterfront at the Pigs Gone Wild pre-launch.")

The pigs were lined up on the Waterfront in Ipswich last night alongside Ed Sheer-ham, Major Tim Pig - sponsored by the Ipswich Star and the EADT - and Pretty Penny, as sponsors gathered at The Old Customs House to celebrate the final countdown to the trail launch.

Tally-Ho Trotters was the first pig to be unveiled when St Elizabeth Hospice officially launched the fundraising scheme at the Suffolk Show last year and since then he has become mascot of the art project, but he was missing last night.

Andrew Harston, of Associated British Ports, hosted the sponsors event and said they were committed to raising £10,000 for the hospice over coming months.

%image(15225689, type="article-full", alt="Major Tim Pig is raised in the air to "fly" in Ipswich thanks to Suffolk Fire Service Ipswich East Blue Watch's Unimog crane.")

Ben Reed, of Wild in Art, who are working with the hospice to deliver the trail, said: “A huge amount of work has gone into this project from the artists, the sponsors, the businesses and the hospice team. It has brought various communities together.”

Explaining the effect the pigs will have next week when the trail goes live, he added: “This project will bring smiles to the faces of tens of thousands of people in Ipswich this summer. These trails awaken the inner child, I am not quite sure what it is, but they are infectious. Everyone wants to be a part of it.

“Something makes you want to go out and see them all and you find yourselves walking in parts of the town you won’t have been to before.”

%image(15225693, type="article-full", alt="Ashtons pig, Pig 'n' Mix outside the Old Customs House on Ipswich Waterfront at the Pigs Gone Wild pre-launch.")

Pigs Gone Wild has been spear-headed by Norman Lloyd, of St Elizabeth Hospice and he thanked everyone for their support, adding: “It has cost £250,000 to pit the pigs on the streets of Ipswich, that is money the hospice doesn’t have - money that you, as sponsors, have given to us.”

The pigs will be auctioned off after the trail, with proceeds going to the hospice. Calling on businesses and individuals to get behind the auction, Mr Norman said: “It costs £9million a year to run the hospice and we rely on 1,100 volunteers, it does amazing work. People talk about the hospice as being somewhere you go to die, but it is so much more.

“The hospice helped my wife live, and for that she was eternally grateful, and so am I.”

%image(15225694, type="article-full", alt="Photographer Mark Bailey is pictured with Sam Catling and Jack Nicholl of St Elizabeth Hospice")

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%image(15225259, type="article-full", alt="Norman Lloyd with Ed Sheer-Ham and Tally-Ho outside UCS for Pigs Gone Wild.")