Artists, sponsors, supporters and organisers linked up to launch the World War 1 Trail in Bury St Edmunds.
They gathered at the Greene King Beer Café on Wednesday for the initiative which involves a display of 18 pieces of iconic artwork round the town to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the 1914-1918 conflict.
It’s being organised by Our Bury St Edmunds, the business improvement district in the town, and the My WiSH Charity along with sponsorship from Treatt, with funds raised going to the charity’s Every Heart Matters appeal
It is aiming to raise £500,000 to help create a fully integrated cardiac centre at the West Suffolk Hospital with the 18 items being sold at an auction later this year.
And at the launch Sue Smith, the fundraising manager of My WiSH, praised the sponsors and said the appeal is nearing the half way mark with just a few thousand pounds needed to reach the landmark.
She said: “To date we are just about halfway so we are nearly at £250,000 and because of projects like this it gets us ever closer to our goal to transform cardiac care in Suffolk.
“It’s going to stop patients having to go to different hospitals for certain treatments that previously they will have had to, so it’s really, really important because we treat everyone in the community.
“We could not have done this without our sponsors, certainly on our behalf, and due to the generosity of the sponsorship we are already in plus figures, so before even auctioning these pieces at the end of the trail we have made money
“And the level of quality of the pieces is absolutely staggering.”
The trail runs from July 21 to Armistice Day, November 11, with an auction taking place to sell off all of the pieces to go to the appeal with a competition also being organised for people to find the 18 displays in the town.
Mark Cordell, chief executive of Our Bury St Edmunds, explained that the idea for the trail came from a conversation he had with Andrew Speed, chairman of the Bury St Edmunds Town Council, who suggested a theme commemorating the centenary of the ending of World War 1.
“That seemed like a great idea to me and a number of people involved in the trail have found out a lot more about the war and its consequences” he said.
“We want people to go to parts of the town that people don’t often go to as part of the trail and see the wonderful businesses that we have here.”
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