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Date Revealed for Big Hoot Auction

25 August 2022

After a summer of colour and creativity, the date for the Big Hoot Auction has been announced for this year’s Big Hoot Ipswich 2022.

The Big Hoot Ipswich 2022 art trail has seen 50 ornately decorated owl sculptures, featuring a range of individual designs from national and local artists, make Ipswich their home for the summer as part of the biggest free art event in Suffolk which attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors to the town.

The art trail will culminate with the Big Hoot Auction, taking place at the Grand Hall, in Ipswich Town Hall on 15th September, which Ipswich Borough Council are kindly supporting. The Big Hoot Auction will see all 50 Big Hoot statues, which have made up this summer’s art trail, go under the hammer to raise funds for St Elizabeth Hospice as they find their forever homes.

Celia Joseph, Community Relationships Fundraising Manager at St Elizabeth Hospice, said: “What a summer it has been for the hospice and all the hoots during their stay in Ipswich. We have had such a brilliant response and warm welcome from the people and businesses of Ipswich for all the hoots, so on behalf of the whole hospice I would like to thank you all for your fantastic support.

“We are all really looking forward to the Big Hoot Auction, and are very grateful to Clarke and Simpson for helping us with hosting the auction, which is sure to be a brilliant evening that will raise vital funds for our services and help us to continue to evolve and expand our care to support more patients and their families in the region, for many years to come.”

All proceeds from the auction will go towards St Elizabeth Hospice and its services which provide care free of charge to those living with progressive or life-limiting illness throughout East Suffolk, Great Yarmouth and Waveney.

Arrival for the Big Hoot Auction, which will be conducted by Clarke and Simpson, begins at 6pm before the first bids at 7pm. Auctions for the previous hospice art trails, including Pigs Gone Wild 2016 and Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk 2019, have proved great successes.

With Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk seeing statues sell for £3,000 and even up to £10,000, and these statues now proudly grace homes, businesses, gardens and even a cruise ship, across the UK and Suffolk.

Tickets to attend the Big Hoot Auction cost £20 and you can register by visiting: https://thebighoot.co.uk/event/auction/

As well as the Big Hoot Auction, there is still time to enter the Lucky Ticket raffle, which is open until 16th September, which gives all hospice supporters the chance of winning the Big Hoot statue, ‘Nocturne’, designed by Ipswich artist, Loïs Cordelia, by entering the raffle for £5. Full details can be found here: www.luckyticket.org.uk/charity/st-elizabeth-hospice-suffolk/big-hoot-2022