The artist behind one of the sought-after Oor Wullie Bucket Trail statues has expressed her hopes that charity will be the winner at auction.
The wildly popular sculptures will be auctioned on September 13, with the proceeds going to The ARCHIE Foundation Tayside Children’s Hospital Appeal – which will benefit sick kids across the region.
A group of Arbroath residents have voiced their desire for the “Oor Lifesaver” which was placed beside the lifeboat shed in Broughty Ferry, while the Dundee crew have since said they would like to keep the statue for the city.
The Arbroath fundraiser has reached around £1,450 with a target of £6,000, while the Broughty figure stands around £2,800 of a £10,000 target.
But Arbroath have already indicated they would be “delighted” with a successful bid on another statue, if the price is too high on artist Fiona Hay’s design.
These include the “thick cut” marmalade statue, tying in with local business Mackay’s, and a military Wullie that would fit with the Royal Marine base, RM Condor.
Miss Hay was approached to design her own Wullie after selling her Duncan of Jordanstone degree show work to a local accounting firm.
Although she lives in Broughty Ferry, she says the design was based on the good work of all RNLI stations.
“I wish both of them luck with their fundraising – I’d be so honoured for Oor Lifesaver to be displayed permanently,” she said.
“The bucket trail has been a massive success and the public have loved it, you rarely pass a statue without any people crowding around it.
“Oor Lifesaver seems to be a very popular one and I really hope he manages to raise a lot of money for the ARCHIE Foundation.
“I’ve always known about the RNLI and the amazing work the volunteers do, so the design I submitted included the lifeboat.
“My statue arrived at my house one Monday morning and I had two weeks from then to complete him – while juggling a full-time job – so all my spare time was spent painting him, in total around 50-plus hours.
“I am very happy with how he’s turned out.”
Charity organisers The ARCHIE Foundation, along with partners Wild In Art and DC Thomson, brought the project to life to raise money for The ARCHIE Foundation’s Tayside Children’s Hospital Appeal to create a brand new twin operating theatre paediatric suite for the Tayside Children’s Hospital at Ninewells.
Visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/arbroaths-oor-wullie-1 to find the Arbroath fundraiser and https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lifeboatmanwullie for Ewan Philp’s Broughty Ferry page.
