Our Imp purchase boosts Imp Trail donation to St Barnabas to £125,000
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October 1, 2021
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Fresh from duty bringing colour to the Lincoln cityscape whilst raising money for St Barnabas Hospice, ‘our’ Imp has come home to the Province.
With APGM Peter Brooks waving the bidding paddle, we bought our sponsored Imp for £4,500 at the auction at Lincoln Cathedral. It will live at The Lincoln Masonic Centre, from where it will travel to events around the Province.
Our involvement with sponsorship of the Imp was seen as a novel way of donating funds to the Hospice that we would ordinarily have given anyway in direct donations. Said Provincial Grand Master Dave Wheeler: “This way we were able to actively promote awareness of Freemasonry to the community at large, and to show that we are a happy and enjoyable organisation committed to making life better in the communities in which we meet.
“Until any of us has had personal experience of the work done by Hospices and their dedicated staff, we can’t fully understand the vital role they play. We should never underestimate the value of such high levels of compassionate care, offered at the most difficult times in our lives – but it doesn’t come cheap. That’s why Freemasonry will continue to provide financial support.”
Our Imp, which spent the six weeks of the Imp Trail at Newport Arch in Lincoln, where it was seen by tens of thousands of people coming into the city, was one of 31 forming the third trail of its kind in the city, after the Knight and the Barons.
The trail was organised by Lincoln Business Improvement Group, whose Corporate Manager Sharon Stone said: “Our mischievous imps are now on their way to their new homes after raising £125,000 at the Auction on Friday evening. We would like to say a big thank you to you the Freemasons and all our other sponsors for their contribution since the launch at the New Theatre Royal in October 2019. It has been an adventurous journey over two years but everyone has pulled together and made it the success it was.”
The trail in numbers
31 sponsored Imps displayed around Lincoln in six-week public art display
68,000 people walked the the whole Imp Trail
1bn estimated number of steps walked by visitors
£125,000 raised for St Barnabas Hospice from sale of the Imps at an auction held in Lincoln Cathedral
£10,000 bid won the highest-priced Imp for its new owner
