Your chance to own one of these decorated Hartlepool monkey sculptures

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More than 30 of the distinctive artworks decorated by community groups have been part of a monkey trail around town as part of this year’s the 2021 Northern Festival of Illustration by the Northern School of Art.

As part of the grand finale of the festival, they are to be auctioned off during an event on Sunday, November 28, at the newly refurbished Elephant Rock outdoor arena on the Headland at 4.30pm.

Gary Philipson from BBC Radio Tees will host the event and the money raised will be for Hartlepool Carers.

The monkeys will be auctioned off to raise money for Hartlepool Carers.

People can see all the monkeys displayed together before the sale in St Hilda’s Church on Saturday and Sunday.

Festival director and vice principal of The Northern School of Art Pat Chapman said: "It has been great to see people following the monkey trail, searching them out.

“My thanks go out to everyone who decorated a monkey and to all those local organisations and businesses who have had one living with them for the past few weeks – we hope they won’t miss them too much.

“We are also really grateful to Hartlepool Borough Council for allowing us to use the fabulous new Elephant Rock arena.

Prop maker Billy Cessford with some of the monkey sculptures he created.

“Hartlepool Carers is such a fabulous and important local charity so I hope the auction raises a lot of cash for them.”

Mr Chapman said people visited Hartlepool just to see the decorated monkeys.

Entry to Sunday’s auction is free. There will be no minimum bid and each monkey will be auctioned separately.

The finale of the festival also ties in with this weekend’s Wintertide Festival taking place on the Headland.

One of Wintertide’s organisers, BloominArt CIC, helped the community of Hartlepool to decorate the monkeys created by former school of art student Billy Cessford.

Bids can also be made in advance online at https://www.biddingowl.com/hartlepoolmonkey

The Northern Festival of Illustration has attracted more than 100,000 visitors to Hartlepool since it was first held here in 2015.

It is funded by Arts Council England with support from the National Lottery Project Fund and the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority Festival Recovery Fund.

In pictures: Trail of monkey sculptures turns Hartlepool into planet of the apes

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