That’s Your Lot! – Hop to it! Auction Raises Over £250,000
After a summer of colour and creativity across Suffolk, St Elizabeth Hospice’s Hop to it! Suffolk 2025 art trail ended in style with a fundraising auction that raised more than £250,000 for the independent charity.
Running from 21 June to 29 August, Hop to it! Suffolk 2025 was the hospice’s fourth art trail, featuring more than 130 hare sculptures across the county.
For the first time, the trail extended beyond Ipswich to satellite locations in Beccles, Felixstowe, Lowestoft and Woodbridge, made possible with support from presenting partners East Suffolk Council, Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk County Council.
Held on 17 September at Milsoms, Kesgrave, the Hop to it! Suffolk 2025 Auction brought together over 200 trail fans and keen bidders to celebrate the art trail, as the hare sculptures went under the hammer and found their forever homes.
Celia Joseph, Community & Projects Fundraising Manager at St Elizabeth Hospice, said: “What a ‘hare-mazing’ summer it has been! The Hop to it! Suffolk 2025 auction was the perfect way to bring this summer’s art trail to a close, raising vital funds for our hospice services.
“A big thank you to our presenting partners, sponsors, volunteers, local community and businesses who supported Hop to it! Suffolk 2025. It was a real community event and one that would not have been possible without everyone’s fantastic support.
“The awareness and funds raised by the Hop to it! Suffolk 2025 trail and the auction, will make such a difference to the St Elizabeth Hospice, as we continue to develop our services to support more people living with progressive and life-limiting illness in East Suffolk, Great Yarmouth and Waveney.”
Conducted by Clarke and Simpson, the auction surpassed the £163,590 raised by the hospice’s previous art trail auction, the Big Hoot Ipswich 2022.
Auction Highlights
One of the many proud winning bidders was Charlie Clarke, who won Built on the River.
Charlie, whose wife Wendy was supported by the hospice in 2023, said: “Wendy and I went to the hospice’s Pigs Gone Wild auction in 2016 and were lucky to win the statue, Refugee, which now lives in our garden. Wendy loved that evening, and winning again tonight feels even more meaningful.
“The hospice is such a special organisation that supported us so much, and knowing the money raised goes to them is incredible. Most importantly, the real winner tonight is St Elizabeth Hospice.”
All funds raised by Hop to it! Suffolk 2025 will go towards St Elizabeth Hospice. An independent Suffolk charity, every year the hospice 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.
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