Auctioned puffin figures make £100k for charities
TWO Guernsey charities are more than £50,000 better off each after the Puffin Parade raised almost that amount when the figures were auctioned off.
The auction alone raised £98,200 but added to the money made by people giving donations and entering the raffle, the total from this year’s event passed the £100,000 mark.
La Fontaine Room at St Pierre Park was packed for the sale of the 60 puffin statues and the vast majority attracted a lot of interest.
Auctioneer John Randall started off the first few puffins at £500, but after about a dozen he decided to move the opening bids to £1,000.
Only three of the figures went for less than £1,000 and at the other end of the price range, three sold for £3,000 or more.
The highest bid of the night was £3,500 and saw Beau Coeur Bill, which was painted by Bronnie James, being bought for the artist by her grandmother, Dame Mary Perkins.
‘It was such a good experience to be part of it,’ said Miss James. ‘It was hard work, but great.’
Her puffin was painted with scenes of a puffin’s lifecycle.
‘I tried to get all of the Channel Islands in there,’ she said.
Several people bid on more than one of the figures and one man ended up with four, for a total of about £8,000.
Among his purchases was Dudley, painted by children at St Martin’s Primary School.
‘I bought one for the school, to make sure they got it back,’ said the buyer, who asked not to be named.
He said he also wanted to contribute because one of his family had autism. He thought he would put one figure in his greenhouse and another at his home.
‘I’ll probably donate the fourth one to some organisation,’ he said.
Another school that worked on a puffin would also be getting it back after Blanchelande College head boy and girl Dan Mollison and Millie Fox bought Fiel Pablo for £1,500 after the school had both sponsored and painted it.
It was bought using money raised by the students during the year.
‘We got the whole school involved and everyone designed a feather,’ said Miss Fox.
GSPCA manager Steve Byrne and Autism Guernsey fundraising manager Mandy Rowlinson were delighted with the amount raised.
‘With the GSPCA celebrating 150 years and Autism Guernsey celebrating 10 years, what an incredible way to celebrate with all that has taken place with the Guernsey puffin parade,’ said Mr Byrne.
Ms Rowlinson added: ‘With the money we’ve made from the raffle and the app and sponsorship we’ve made over £100,000 and we’re really pleased with that.'
