Added: 17 April 2019
Leading local financial institution Ipswich Building Society snapped up the opportunity to be Community Engagement Partner when the Elmer campaign was launched back in 2017, following the great success of their involvement in Pigs Gone Wild.
More recently they decided it was time to take their title literally, and handed over responsibility for their sculpture’s name to their members and the general public, in a competition to find an appropriate moniker for the Suffolk inspired design.
As a trail ‘early adopter’, we are pleased that they will be exclusively revealing both the name and their completed sculpture in April, ahead of the trail’s official launch in June.
Following the unveiling, their sculpture will spend some time relaxing in the window of Mutual House, their Ipswich town centre flagship branch, before going off on its travels, which will include a star appearance at the Hadleigh Show on Saturday 18 May, and a short tour of Ipswich Building Society’s nine branches across Suffolk.
Norman Lloyd, Campaign Manager for Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk, recently visited Mutual House to confirm the trail location of their sculpture; “We are really pleased to be working with Ipswich Building Society again and it is great to be able to give them early confirmation that their sculpture will sit outside their flagship branch in the heart of the town. Ipswich Building Society members, as well as the general public, will also be to pick up their trail maps in the branch, making it easy for them to plan their route around the trail.”
Richard Norrington, CEO of Ipswich Building Society commented: “Following the success of Pigs Gone Wild, and the popularity of our sculpture Pretty Penny, we were thrilled to continue to support St Elizabeth Hospice and to return as Community Partners for the 2019 trail. Our sculpture will take pride of place outside our town centre branch for the duration of the event and we have a wide range of events planned in support of the Hospice.”
From June to September 2019, visitors will be able to discover 140 beautifully painted, unique sculptures in the parks and open spaces of Ipswich town centre and waterfront as part of Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk, St Elizabeth Hospice’s latest art trail, organised in partnership with Wild in Art and Andersen Press.
The trail follows the successful ‘Pigs Gone Wild’ art trail in 2016, which attracted around 250,000 visitors to Ipswich and boosted the local economy by an estimated £1 million. It raised £200,000 for the hospice – enough to fund one week’s care.