Dudley the puffin gifted back to St Martin’s Primary
ST MARTIN’S pupils let out squeals of surprise, as Dudley the puffin arrived back at their school.
The sculpture, which was painted by pupils, was one of the 60 puffins put up for auction to raise money for charities.
A mystery benefactor bought Dudley for £2,000 and donated him to the school.
‘We are thrilled to announce that Dudley has returned home to St Martin’s Primary School,’ said headteacher Clare Giles.
‘What a lovely surprise. There were cheers of joy from the children and staff as he was delivered across the playground.
'Thank you, thank you, thank you to the anonymous donor who bid a whopping £2,000 to purchase Dudley. We are so grateful.’
The school ran a competition for students to create designs for their puffin, and out of the 150 entrants, the top five designs were chosen to be on Dudley. The top five designs were then collated and sketched onto the fibreglass puffin by learning support assistant Caroline Cummins.
Pupils and staff all took part in finger painting the flowers on Dudley.
During the parade he was placed outside the Farmhouse Hotel.
GSPCA manager Steve Byrne said the Puffin Parade team was asked to deliver it as a surprise to St Martin’s Primary School.
‘My six-year-old goes to St Martin’s Primary and while helping the buyers load their puffins at St Pierre Park I got a message that Dudley was to be gifted to the school by an anonymous buyer,’ he said.
‘We simply loaded the puffin and we didn’t tell the school.’
Mr Byrne said there was still time to donate to the Puffin Parade. After an increased bid on one of the puffins, the final total has been upgraded by £200 to £98,400.
‘We are planning a calendar of the puffins so more to come,’ he said.
‘Again a huge thanks to everyone involved and who supported such an amazing event.’
Anyone wanting to donate to the event can visit www.giving.gg/donate/event/9201/Puffin-Parade.
