An oil painting donated by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will go under the hammer in Ripon this month.

The painting of Richmond Castle will be included in Elstob Auctioneers’ fine art and antiques sale on  June 17.

Members of the public will be able to bid at the sale in person or online. The proceeds will raise funds for Richmond community arts venue The Station.

The painting, by contemporary landscape painter Alice Boggis-Rolfe, carries a price estimate of £1,800 to £2,200. It comes with a signed title card from the Prime Minister.

Broadcaster Sky gave the painting to Mr Sunak to mark the Sky Arts channel becoming free-to-view. With Sky’s blessing, the Richmond MP donated it to the gallery at The Station, which is housed in Richmond’s former Victorian Railway Station.

It was displayed in The Station gallery but is now being sold to raise money for the venue.

Mr Sunak said:

“I thought it most appropriate that The Station – a centre for the arts in Richmond – should benefit from Sky’s generosity and people in Richmond should have the chance to see the work too.”

Rohan McCulloch, paintings and sculptures specialist at Elstob Auctioneers, said:

“This is a rare opportunity to acquire a fabulous piece of art by one of the UK’s up-and-coming artists at the same time as supporting a great cause. Alice Boggis-Rolfe regularly sells out at exhibitions.”

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Chris Brown, general manager of the Richmondshire Building Preservation Trust, said:

“Elstob Auctioneers are kindly waiving all fees associated with the sale so 100% of the proceeds will go straight back into The Station and supporting other at-risk buildings in Richmondshire.”

Commissioned by Sky to produce the painting, Alice Boggis-Rolfe said:

“I am delighted and honoured that Rishi Sunak has donated my painting to The Station in Richmond and look forward to the auction.”

The fine art and antiques sale will be held on Saturday, June 17 at 9.30am. Bids can be made in person, online or by telephone.

The contents of the sale, including the painting, will be available to view at the Ripon saleroom on Friday, June 16 from 10am until 4pm.

For further information, call 01765 699200 or email: info@elstob.co.uk

Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue could lose a number of parking spaces and its central refuges as part of plans to create a cycleway.

North Yorkshire County Council this week identified Victoria Avenue as its priority cycling scheme of three in the pipeline. The others are on the A59 Harrogate Road at Knaresborough, and in Richmond.

Victoria Avenue would see segregated cycle lanes 1.5 metres wide and buffer zones created on both sides of the avenue.

The West Park junction and kerb line would be remodelled to improve the crossing and new traffic lights installed. The pedestrian crossing would also be upgraded and pay and display meters would be removed or relocated.

A report to councillors says “some existing parking and central refuges” would be removed but doesn’t specify how many. When the Stray Ferret has asked the council for the number, a spokesperson said:

“The designs of the Victoria Avenue scheme are still to be finalised, so the reduction in parking spaces is yet to be confirmed.”

The Victoria Avenue scheme, which is part of the council’s plans to encourage active travel, is budgeted to cost £1.57m and is likely to go ahead because funding is already secured.

The council has £492,000 from tranche two of the Department for Transport’s active travel fund remaining. This, along with £1.08 million the DfT has awarded in tranche four, will cover the cost.

The council has also been invited to bid for an additional £2.16 million and whether the schemes in Knaresborough and Richmond proceed will largely depend on this.

Read more:

• Harrogate cycling group: ‘We need delivery, not just bids’
• Council bids for £3m for cycling projects in Harrogate and Knaresborough

This story is sponsored by Lucy Pittaway.

One of the UK’s favourite artists says she has been “blown away” by the reception since opening her new gallery in Harrogate before Christmas. 

Lucy Pittaway already has four other galleries across the North – in Richmond, Yarm, Keswick and near her home in Brompton-on-Swale – where she sells original artwork and prints of her paintings, which she calls “art that makes you smile” – but wanted a presence a little further south. 

She said: 

“We’ve been blown away by the reception we’ve had in Harrogate – not just from other traders, but from local people coming into the gallery too.The feedback’s been wonderful. The gallery has been really well received, which makes us feel we’ve definitely made the right decision opening here.

“Footfall’s been incredibly strong. We were getting people wanting to come in before we’d even opened. It’s actually been quite challenging, because we’ve had to take on more people just to cope with demand.”

Lucy Pittaway graduated from Northumbria University with a degree in Graphic Design, and went on to teach and lecture at Darlington Technical College of Art and Design. It was only after she had started a family with childhood sweetheart Neil that she felt it was the perfect time to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a professional artist.  

Her pictures, which often feature scenes, animals and characters from the Yorkshire Dales, can now be found in homes and galleries across the UK and beyond. 

She has won an armful of prestigious awards from the Fine Art Trade Guild, including Best Up-and-Coming Artist, Best Art Website of the Year, and the UK’s Most Popular Published Artist in 2018, 2019 and 2022. 

Nevertheless, when Lucy decided to open her gallery in the heart of Harrogate, on Prospect Place at the end of James Street, she had little idea of how local traders would respond – but she needn’t have worried. 

She said: 

“Coming to Harrogate has been really eye-opening. It’s a very welcoming town. From a business-to-business point of view, we were really quite overwhelmed by the help we received from [tourism body] Destination Harrogate. They took a lot of time out to answer all our questions about recruitment, seasonality, advertising and business organisations.

“Other businesses have been very supportive too, and I think that says a lot about the genuine nature of businesses in Harrogate. They want to do the best for their customers and are interested in improving choice on the high street.”

Buoyed by the success of the Harrogate opening, Lucy is now hoping to repeat the achievement in other towns in the region. 

She said:

“We’ve just gone through some major renovation at our head office in Brompton-on-Swale, and have invested a lot in new warehousing and office space, which will help us feed more galleries and expand. 

“We want to bring a vibrancy to the high street to make people smile. We’re planning to open more galleries this year – so watch this space!” 

Find out more:

Discover why Lucy Pittaway is the UK’s most popular published artist by visiting her newest gallery at 21 Prospect Place, Harrogate.

Or check out her latest paintings on her award-winning website, lucypittaway.co.uk.