LAST chance for people to see the Hares of Hampshire art sculptures before a grand charitable auction.
The Hares of Hampshire farewell event kicked off at 10am on Friday, September 23 with all the vibrant designs included in the Winchester and Southampton trail being displayed together one last time.
Artists, trail leaders and members from the Murray Parish Trust are on hand throughout the weekend to tell the public more about the exhibition.
To get a virtual view of the colourful creations the Chronicle’s Facebook live video below.
The finale display proceeds the grand auction on Tuesday, September 27 when the six-foot hares and some of the smaller leverets will be auctioned to raise money for the Murray Parish Trust, supporting children’s emergency care at Southampton General Hospital.
Operations manager from the charity Sam Robson said: “It’s absolutely incredible. This has been a two-year project for the Murray Parish Trust. They’ve been out on the streets for ten weeks. To actually finally have them all here together in one place is so incredible.
“It gives the charity a public facing event where people can come see and interact with us. It gives people the opportunity to chat with us, find out more about what the charity does and come and see this fantastic art.
“We have no idea how much the hares will go for but we’re trying to raise £200,000 from the whole event for the children’s paediatric care unit at Southampton.”
Volunteers from the charity are helping over the weekend to collect donations and sell Hares of Hampshire merchandise.
Trail manager Julie Mountain added: “What I’m really enjoying so far is chatting to people about the stories behind the hares. When they’re out on the trail you can’t really to do that but when they’re all here together it’s much easier.”
Artist Emma Abel pitched up outside the Great Hall, to show off her mosaic designs and make some last-minute repairs to her Roman themed hare. The artist from Stonehenge said: “I looked into Roman history and Winchester and found that Winchester was the fifth largest Roman town at the time of occupation and hares were sacred to the Romans. I wanted to bring in educational element that would be fun for all the children so I’ve included facts and Roman numerals for them to figure out.”
Emma, who specifically makes mosaics of endangered species, will be stationed outside the Great Hall on Friday and Saturday.
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The farewell event is open in the Great Hall courtyard 10am-7pm on Friday and 10am-5pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Members from Winchester Photographic Society were there on Friday to capture the unique designs. Click through the gallery at the top of the page to see some of the photos.
The hares will then find their forever homes after the grand auction starting inside the Great Hall and online at 6.30pm on Tuesday, September 27.
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