Associated British Ports (ABP) has been announced as sponsors for St Elizabeth Hospice’s latest art trail – Hop to it! Suffolk 2025.
Hop to it! Suffolk follows the success of previous hospice art trails – Pigs Gone Wild, Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk and the Big Hoot Ipswich 2022, which ABP have also supported.
Having raised over £88,000 for the charity, over a number of years, by supporting previous art trails, hosting fundraising dinners and bike rides, as well as many other activities, ABP now aims to take their total raised for the hospice to over £100,000 through fundraising for the Hop to it! Suffolk 2025.
Created in partnership with Wild in Art, the art project will see 38 ornately decorated hare sculptures, featuring a range of designs. The trail, will once again, be hosted in Ipswich as well as, for the first time, in neighbouring satellite locations – Beccles, Felixstowe, Lowestoft and Woodbridge – which will each have two large and four small sculptures in their towns.
With ABP increasing their investment in Lowestoft, including the construction of new offshore energy infrastructure at the Port of Lowestoft, they will now be sponsoring one of the Hop to it! Suffolk 2025 hare sculptures making the UK’s most easterly town their home for the summer of 2025.
Paul Ager, Divisional Port Manager (East Anglia) at ABP said: “Supporting community initiatives like the Hop to it! Suffolk 2025 art trail is at the heart of ABP’s commitment to the regions where we operate.
“As we expand our investment in Lowestoft, with the construction of the Lowestoft Eastern Energy Facility (LEEF), which will help to secure the port’s position as a focal point for supporting the region’s offshore energy industry, we’re excited to bring one of these unique hare sculptures to the town.
“ABP is also proud to continue our support supporting an initiative that is raising crucial funds for St Elizabeth Hospice, whose work is vital to so many families in the region.”
All funds raised by Hop to it! Suffolk 2025 will go towards supporting the work of St Elizabeth Hospice. An independent Suffolk charity which every year delivers support to over 4,000 people throughout East & Mid Suffolk, Great Yarmouth and Waveney living with a progressive or life-limiting illness.
Annually, these services cost around £12 million to facilitate, with 70% of funds needed being raised through local community support.
Liz Baldwin, Corporate and Sponsorship Fundraising Manager at St Elizabeth Hospice, said: “We are so pleased to have Associated British Ports (ABP) supporting the hospice and our latest art trail – Hop to it! Suffolk 2025.
“They have been fantastic supporters for our previous trails, helping to raise a brilliant amount for our services in the process and we look forward to working with ABP as we bring Hop to it! Suffolk 2025 to Lowestoft next summer.
“With our services in Great Yarmouth and Waveney increasing, and with ABP investing further into the local area, this is a great partnership to support our first statues in the Lowestoft area.
“We hope the community enjoys seeing the sculptures and learning more about the work of the hospice in the process.”
Find out more details about Hop to It! Suffolk 2025 and how you can support the trail by visiting www.stelizabethhospice.org.uk/hoptoitsuffolk/.