The organisers of the Shaun the Sheep trail through Maidstone are still hoping to reach their fundraising goals despite two of the sculptures being vandalised.
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00:00So, Rachel, thank you very much for joining us here today outside of Shaun HQ there.
00:05What's been the response from this?
00:07We're heading towards the end now of the trail.
00:10There must have been a lot of happy Shaun hunters coming to the HQ during the summer
00:15holidays.
00:16Yeah, absolutely.
00:17The Heart of Kent Hospice has had a fantastic summer with Shaun in the Heart of Kent.
00:23We've had about 10,000 downloads of the app, over half a million unlocks on the apps and
00:29the pedometer is saying that people have walked 22,000 miles.
00:34So it's been really well welcomed by the people who have made it today.
00:37Absolutely.
00:38I mean, you and yourself and the team must be sad to see them go in a week's time.
00:44Yeah, the Farewell Weekend, which is happening on the 13th to the 15th of September, will
00:49be a real kind of celebration of the end of the Shaun trail.
00:52And actually people will get to see all 109 Shaun's all together under one roof.
00:57So that'll be fantastic, but also a bit of a sad kind of time because it means that the
01:01end of the trail is there.
01:03Of course.
01:04Tell me about that Farewell Weekend.
01:05What can people expect?
01:09So the Farewell Weekend is happening from the 13th to the 15th of September.
01:13It's in Maidstone Market Hall, which is in Lochbeddo.
01:16People can get their tickets online at shaunheartofkent.co.uk.
01:21And there in the market hall, you'll be able to see all 52 large sculptures and 57 small
01:27sculptures all together.
01:29And it will be a real spectacle, kind of colour and art, and it will be very vibrant and lots
01:34of fun.
01:35Lots of fun.
01:36But of course, in the last few days, it's not been the most positive time for the Shaun's.
01:39Two of them were, of course, vandalised.
01:42What was the team's kind of reaction to that?
01:44Because that's two Shaun's that won't now go to auction with the money going back to
01:48the hospice.
01:50Yeah, absolutely.
01:52We were just absolutely heartbroken at the beginning of this week when we found out that
01:57two of the Shaun's have been so badly vandalised that they're pretty much irreparable and won't
02:01make it onto the auction.
02:02And it's not only the team that have worked on this for the last 18 months.
02:06It's the artists that have spent many, many hours painting very detailed and intricate
02:10designs.
02:11It's the companies that have sponsored those Shaun's.
02:14And of course, it's the community of Maidstone who are also just as heartbroken as we are
02:18that they got vandalised.
02:19We will do what we can to repair them if we can.
02:25We don't think we're going to be able to repair them in time for the auction.
02:27And as you said, we're aiming to raise £250,000 at the auction.
02:32And those two sculptures make up about £10,000 of that.
02:35So we're hoping that people rally and help us meet that target, even though we're two
02:39Shaun's down.
02:40Well, best of luck with that.
02:42Can you just remind us as well where that money will be going towards at the hospice?
02:46Because £250,000 sounds like quite a lot.
02:49£250,000 is a significant amount of money for Heart of Kent Hospice.
02:54Every year we need to raise over £5 million to run our services, where we provide care
02:59and support for people who are living with a terminal illness and who are facing the
03:02end of their lives.
03:03So this money will go to that care and that support that the hospice provides.
03:08Absolutely, and such an important cause as well, affecting so many families.
03:13But then, of course, in the short term, this whole event has affected so many people by
03:17putting a smile on their face as they head around Maidstone.
03:20Just before we finish, is there a favourite Shaun of yours?
03:24Mine is the Olympics one that's been roaming around to lots of different areas.
03:28Yeah, the roaming Shaun's fantastic.
03:31My Shaun is one that's actually behind me, is Seananigans, which is the Ralph Steadman.
03:37It's just beautiful.
03:38It's so intricate.
03:40It's one of those ones where the more you look at it, the more and more you see on the
03:43detail of the design.
03:44I just love it to bits.
03:46Rachel, thank you very much for joining us today.
03:48You're welcome.