Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity is this year celebrating 150 years of Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and has put together the UK’s biggest sculpture trail of 150 lion/lionesses and 150 adorable cubs throughout Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster. The aim is to raise much needed funds to transform the Emergency Department of the Children’s Hospital.
On Thursday 30th July some of our members enjoyed a fun morning looking for the lions/lionesses and cubs. In all we found 45 around Sheffield City Centre and logged them on our trail.
There were some fantastic lions and lionesses depicting various themes. Some represented ‘what Sheffield meant to the artist’ or were depicting famous people from Sheffield such as Jessica Ennis and Pulp.
Others considered the lion’s status as ‘King of the jungle and looked at what is around them in their natural habitat.
Some lions were just decorative but still had charm and splendour about them.
A very poignant lion was created by much loved Sheffield artist Pete Mckee who chose the subject of the organ transplant to honour the transplant games, set to be held in Sheffield.
But I think our favourite had to be the cubs, each created by children from nurseries and schools around Sheffield. One even had a finger print from every child in the nursery.
In September the lions will be auctioned off to raise the funds and they will undoubtedly pop up in business all-over South Yorkshire.