A bust of the late Captain Sir Tom Moore by West Cornwall sculptor Penny Lally, will be at the centre of an exciting online auction being held by Cornwall Hospice Care in March. A number of artists have donated 100 items to the Cornish healthcare charity, including Ken Howard OBE RA who’s given a stunning oil on canvas of St Michael’s Mount.
“I was amusing myself in the first lock down sculpting famous people’s faces when Captain Sir Tom started his walk,” explains Penny Lally. “It was meant to be as the sculpture came together really quickly and I decided to cast it in bronze resin.” Amongst Penny’s other works is a bust of Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty that’s now in Manchester Art Gallery ready for the opening of a Grayson Perry Exhibition. “I’m very proud of my work as it’s a hobby really and people are surprised when I tell them I’ve sculpted 111 faces of all sorts of people during this pandemic.”
Penny’s links to Cornwall Hospice Care and St Julia’s Hospice in particular, go back a long way. In 2008 she and a friend were part of a team who raised £90,000 on a trek to Peru for the charity. Both had husbands who died from cancer and now Penny visits the hospice with her dog. “I care passionately about the hospices and the care the nursing teams provide to patients and their families. I love going in to St Julia’s with my dog and have had the privilege of experiencing some very special and magic moments with extremely poorly people. The effect a dog can have is very powerful.” Penny says it was her determination to keep raising money for the charity that relies on public support, that prompted her to donate the bust of Captain Sir Tom to the auction.
“I sold a bust of Dominick Cummings to a man who wanted it as a memento of this historic period in our lives and I hope someone will purchase the bust of Captain Sir Tom for the same sort of reason. I know he’d approve of it being auctioned to support a healthcare charity.”
“We’ve been humbled by the number of items donated to the auction”, says fundraiser Julie Treneer. “We now have more than 100 lots and with our shops closed and fundraising activities severely curtailed, this is a golden opportunity to bring in funds to help keep our two hospices open. Both have continued admitting patients 24/7 throughout the pandemic.”
The auction will run from the 14th to the 21st of March and can be accessed via the following links: www.cornwallhospicecare.co.uk/events/artauction2021
