Art exhibition thanks from Friends of Eastbourne Hospital

The Friends of Eastbourne Hospital held their 16th annual art exhibition in October to raise funds for improvements to the Emergency Department at Eastbourne District General Hospital.

There are many people we should like to thank who made this possible.

Mr Tom Gregory, headmaster of St Andrew’s Prep who gave us the use of the gym to stage the exhibition, the Society of Eastbourne Artists for the loan of their screens to display the paintings, and Eastbourne Motoring Centre for the loan of their van to transport the screens.

We were delighted that 66 local artists entered a total of 322 paintings and that a number of St Andrew’s pupils’ works of art were also displayed. Dr Salim Shubber, Consulant in the Emergency Department, spoke about improvements in emergency before performing the opening ceremony.

Mr Nigel Greaves kindly judged the best picture in the show, which was won by Angela Perrin, while the public’s favourite picture votes were tied and won by Tracy Gross and Robert Stevens. Jackie Hurwood donated her picture of Sheep In The Snow for the raffle, which raised £502, and Christopher Osborne donated his painting Alfriston Evening for the silent auction, which raised £385.

The Friends very much valued the support of their sponsors PlanAHead for all their painting work, Christopher Osborne for his painting demonstration, Ian Parratt for his caricature drawings, Mr and Mrs Crockford for the wine and Eastbourne College for the glasses.

We were very grateful to all the local artists for entering their paintings, to the huge number of volunteers who gave their time to ensure the smooth running of the exhibition and to the just over 400 visitors who came to admire - and some to buy - the 32 paintings sold over the weekend. All this most generous support for our local hospital made it possible for the Friends to raise £4,500 at the art exhibition.