Shaun statues raise more than £250k for hospice

Shaun the Sheep statues have raised more than £250,000 for Heart of Kent Hospice

An auction of Shaun the Sheep statues has raised over quarter of a million pounds for a Kent charity.

The painted cartoon sculptures formed a free trail in Maidstone for nine weeks and were sold at a charity event at the Clive Emson Exhibition Hall in the town on Thursday.

The combined total reached £265,250 for Heart of Kent Hospice which provides end-of-life care to people across the county.

Several bidders joined forces to spend £14,000 on a Shaun-themed bench, making the item the highest value lot of the night.

The bench was created in memory of a friend of artist Annabelle Hodd who was cared for by the hospice.

The creation, called Changing of the Seasons, will be placed at the hospice.

One statue, called Bee Happy by local artist Donna Newman, was sold for £8,500.

The hospice's income generation director Ann-Marie Kelly said: "The amount raised will help pay for our team of Doctors, Nurses and Healthcare Assistants who provide personalised around-the-clock care in our Inpatient Unit and in people’s homes and care homes."

The Heart of Kent hospice says it needs £6.6m every year to run its services.

A Shaun the Sheep bench raised £14,000, the highest bid of the auction

The trail was launched in June by the hospice, producer of public art events Wild in Art, Aardman - the creator of Shaun the Sheep, and Maidstone Borough Council.

In the nine weeks the event ran, 10,700 people downloaded the map app to find the sculptures.

More than 2,300 people came to the statues' Farewell Weekend event on 13 - 15 September.

A police investigation was launched in August after two of the sculptures were vandalised.