Goodbye Birmingham Bears
- Oct 9, 2017
- 2 min read
The Big Sleuths are to be auctioned off to raise money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.
This weekend (6th October 8th October) The Big Sleuths were displayed for the final time at Birmingham Eastside City Park located next to Millennium Point before being auctioned off on Thursday the 12th October to raise vital funds for Birmingham children’s hospital.
The auction allows the bear lover and art collector to have the opportunity to own one. The 2015 Big Hoot that held similar idea raised over £500,000 supporting Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity’s £3.65m Star Appeal.
The project is a collaboration between Birmingham City Hospital and producers Wild in Art.
100 bear sculptures were displayed around the city on 10th July, each bear designed by artists who submitted their designs for a bear who were present during the weekend selling their art work.
Louise McCathie, Director of Fundraising at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, commented: “We can’t bear-lieve that after months of sleuthing fun, our bears are going to be prowling off our streets and The Big Sleuth is coming to an end! We’ve been absolutely overwhelmed with the response our bears have had over the past few months and how much joy they’ve brought to tourists and residents alike.
And added “All the money raised will go towards making a real difference to our 90,000 children our hospital cares for each year.”
Artists Alexandra Hatfield, who designed Hettie the heritage Bear, was chosen by the business MHA Macntyre and Hudson. She held a stall at Millennium Point with her art work. Her bear design was inspired by her heritage.
“I am from the black country, all my families from the black country and I work there, we have deep roots into it so I wanted to represent what has made Birmingham city and its surrounding area great and all its past and all its heritage is still in this city today.” Said the 28-year-old artist.
Artist Alexandra Hatfield with her stall
Sheila wall and Jo Flemming were two of the many people who came to say farewell to the bears. They had themselves followed the trail seeing over 70 of the bears and came down to tick of the ones they missed.
Flemming said: “We have a 3’oclock slot to see the ones outside, it’s just nice to some of the artists here, seeing the work that they’ve done is incredible.”
The auction will be taking place at the Thinktank Birmingham Science museum from 17:45 – 22:30 BST.
To buy ticket for auction Click here.
To find out how you can bid online and more information on the auction Click here.
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