Hartlepool's giant inflatable Grinch smashes charity target

The 35ft creation – reputedly one of just five in the world – has attracted thousands of visitors from across the North East and beyond to the town over the last month after businessman Ray Liddell began displaying it in his garden as an early Christmas present for seven-year-old daughter Jasmine.

After one person offered to pay £10 to have a picture taken with the children’s character, Ray decided to begin fundraising in memory of his late dad, Frank, who died aged 77 in May after contracting coronavirus.

A bulging charity bucket and online page soon combined to smash the appeal's initial £10,000 target – with the total raised for Hartlepool’s Alice House Hospice now approaching £33,000.

A grateful Ray, 49, of Park Avenue, who has been interviewed about the Grinch by radio stations as far away as New Zealand since the story appeared in the Hartlepool Mail, said: “Even if you had planned it all six months ago, you could not have hoped to exceed what it has done.

"It has given Hartlepool international recognition and 99.9% of people who have come have been well behaved and maintained their social distance.

"Even when the Grinch has not been there because of the weather, people have still left a pound on the wall.”

Deteriorating winter weather means the Grinch is drying out until possibly next year.

Ray, the managing director of Hartlepool business Cactus Products, which manufactures protective spikes for properties, said: “If we have a cracking day on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day then we may put him back up.

"But the forecast was not good the last time I looked.

"He will be back next year though although we don’t know what we will be doing just yet.”

Ray, who is married to Jenna, 37, and is also dad to Olivia, 12, paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Grinch from America.

He decided to support the hospice for the care given to his dad, the former boss of Hartlepool businesses Kildale Car Sales and Lion Security, before his death.

The online JustGiving appeal can be supported by via The Grow Your Hart Fund page at www.justgiving.com/campaign/GrowYourHart

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