Brian Blessed to play leading role at Elephantastic charity auction

With under two weeks to go until the much anticipated Elephantastic auction, the campaign’s organisers are delighted to announce that renowned actor Brian Blessed will play the leading role of the auctioneer alongside TV’s Bargain Hunt’s Jonathan Pratt, who is also the managing director of Bellman’s Auctioneers and Valuers of Wisborough Green.
Brian Blessed SUS-151111-094147001Brian Blessed SUS-151111-094147001
Brian Blessed SUS-151111-094147001

Taking place on Saturday November 21 at St. John’s Church in Horsham, the auction will see 187 elephants (in 135 lots) being sold off at the event to raise vital funds for over 65 charities and local good causes.

However, for those unable to attend the auction event, a specialist online bidding site has been set up at www.elephantastic.org.uk and interested parties should submit their bids by 10pm on Wednesday November 18 (which will be allocated as starting bids at the live auction event).

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Highest current bids for each elephant together with their pictures will be found in the ‘ Our Elephants’ section.

Kandula SUS-151111-094209001Kandula SUS-151111-094209001
Kandula SUS-151111-094209001

Alternatively, for those who can’t bear to see their desired elephant fall into the hands of a competitive bidder or who cannot be present at the auction, maximum bids can be emailed to [email protected] by Thursday November 19.Full details of the bidding and auction process can be requested by emailing Horsham Rotary.

In order for potential elephant owners to view the stunning creations that require a loving home the organisers - The Rotary Club of Horsham, wildlife charity The Born Free Foundation and Billingshurst’s creative marketing company, PMW Communications - have gathered up the herds in the ex-‘Cloth Shop’ in the Carfax giving visitors the opportunity to pick their favourites.

The elephant creations will be available to view at this location until Thursday November 16.

This week we spotlight :

HAOS family SUS-151111-094136001HAOS family SUS-151111-094136001
HAOS family SUS-151111-094136001
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n Elephant name/nickname: Hope & Inspiration / Marmalade

Current owner: Holbrook Club

Charity: Hope for Emily

Artist: Zoe Keable - an extremely talented young local artist who studied BTEC Art and Design at Collyers Sixth Form College and is now studying at the Arts University Bournemouth.

Hope for Emily family SUS-151111-094121001Hope for Emily family SUS-151111-094121001
Hope for Emily family SUS-151111-094121001

Story: The Milner family from Horsham is fundraising in order to raise money so that two-year-old Emily Milner can travel to America and have a life changing operation.

Emily was born prematurely at 29 weeks and suffered brain damage at birth. She has cerebral palsy and is tube fed, cannot sit, crawl or walk and is the size of a 10-month-old baby.

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Emily’s mother, Nickie, says that Emily is a determined little princess and is hoping to raise £65,000 so that Emily can have a Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) operation to be able to walk. Nickie says: “Emily needs to be aged three to four to have the operation and we need £6,000 just for her to be assessed to see if she will be eligible.

“We have a year or so to fundraise so we’ve just thrown ourselves into it. The NHS doesn’t provide everything and the equipment often needs adapting. The operation isn’t available in the UK so we are aiming to go to America for it.’

n Elephant name/nickname: Art and Colours of Africa / Mumbo Jumbo

Current owner: Horsham

Artists: Open Studios (HAOS)

Charity: HAOS will use the funds raised from their elephants to help budding young artists and promote their work.

Artist: Angela Brittain and HAOS artists

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Story: Once again the fantastic local artists who comprise ‘Horsham Artist Open Studios’ were the first to promote elephantastic when they created their family of elephants in full public view in Swan Walk….. and what colourful elephants they are, truly catching the spirit of Africa.

n Elephant name/nickname: Kandula / Kandy

Current owner: La Source

Charity: Air Ambulance

Artist: Martin Nee

Story: The design inspiration for ‘kandy’ came from the chosen name KANDULA…a famous elephant from history attributed with unifying Sri Lanka, so Martin wanted to create the idea of a ceremonial elephant in all it’s finery.

The Howdah ( the thing on top) gives it, not only a bit of added interest, but is just the right height to sit at the end of a sofa and place a glass on! By the way….it glows in the dark! Charged by UV many of La Source’s customers have testified to it’s eerie glow in the evenings.

Please bid high and keep the Air Ambulance guys in the air.

Report and pictures contributed by the Rotary Club of Horsham.