A Harrogate gallery has raised £1,000 for the town’s Trussell Trust food bank with a “Giraffle.”
Watermark Gallery, on Royal Parade, sold 200 tickets at £5 each and pulled the name of the winner today.
A six-year-old boy called Dominic, and whose parents own Westmorland Sheepskins just up the road, won the top prize created by illustrator Jane Ray.
Jane created the five-feet tall paper mache giraffe based on the main character of a book called “Zeraffa Girraffa.”
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Just as the character of that book travelled far to her new home in Paris, Zeraffa toured the Harrogate district in past few months.
The giraffe took pride of place in the windows of Catherine Smith Vintage, Bespoke Eyewear, Westmorland Sheepskins and the Little Ripon Bookshop.
When Dominic found out that he had won Zeraffa he jumped for joy out in the town centre. Anna Martola, of the Watermark Gallery, told the Stray Ferret:
“It is a real treat that it is going to someone who is going to love it, and a little boy just like in the story of Zeraffa.
“I mean it took Jane three weeks to paint and her original art pieces go for between £1,000 and £7,000 so it’s definitely a little investment.”
Liz Hawkes, owner of the Watermark Gallery, previously said:
Harrogate shops raise money with ‘Giraffle’ for food bank“Zeraffa was a real talking point in the window of our gallery, and we had countless enquiries about buying her.
“I think people saw her as a ray of sunshine during a somewhat challenging time.”
A group of independent Harrogate shops have joined forces to raise money for the town’s Trussell Trust food bank by organising a “Giraffle” .
Watermark Gallery, on Royal Parade, came up with the idea and worked with children’s illustrator Jane Ray to get it up and running.
Jane created a five-feet tall paper mache giraffe based on the main character of a book called “Zeraffa Girraffa” in 2014.
Just as the character of that book travelled far to her new home in Paris, Zeraffa is travelling around the Harrogate district in October and November.
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So far she has been seen in the windows of Catherine Smith Vintage, Bespoke Eyewear and Westmorland Sheepskins.
The next stop will be the Little Ripon Bookshop. When her tour comes to an end, Zeraffa will be raffled off to one lucky winner. The tickets will be drawn on December 18.
Tickets to enter the raffle are £5 and are available from Watermark Gallery. A total of 100 tickets have been sold so far and another 100 are on sale.
Liz Hawkes, owner of the Watermark Gallery, hopes that the “Giraffle” will raise £1,000 for charity. She said:
“Zeraffa was a real talking point in the window of our gallery, and we had countless enquiries about buying her. I think people saw her as a ray of sunshine during a somewhat challenging time.
“This gave us the idea of creating an ongoing artwork initiative to unite local independent retailers as well as raising money for a great local cause.”