Britannia Lanes helped to raise funds for charity.
Britannia Lanes of Somerset and Bristol helped Bristol Zoo towards raising over £427,000 for charity last month by providing storage and logistic services for the zoo’s Wow! Gorillas event.
Wow! Gorillas was partly a celebration of Bristol Zoo’s 175th birthday and an opportunity to raise funds for two very important causes: conservation projects for critically endangered gorillas; and the Wallace & Gromit Grand Appeal which is raising funds for the cardiology unit at Bristol Children’s Hospital.
Britannia Lanes was first approached last October and asked to store 30 blank, unpainted gorillas. The company provided this service free and became one of the project’s main sponsors. One of the gorillas was sponsored by the company and sat outside its depot all summer. The rest of the gorillas were placed around the city of Bristol.
The gorillas were auctioned at an event at the Victoria Rooms in Clifton, attended by 550 people all hoping to get their hands on one of the life-sized, if not all life-like sculptures. But it turned out that only those with deep pockets were in with a chance of winning the bidding. One gorilla, called Gorizambard, was sold for £23,000 and two others, Alfred and Elvis, went for £12,000 and £10,200 respectively.
Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies MBE showed her generosity when she successfully bid £7,500 for the gorilla named Distinctly Different.
Director of Bristol Zoo, Dr Bryan Carroll, was thrilled with the success of the auction. He said: “We never could have predicted how successful Wow! Gorillas would have been and the total raised at the auction has further demonstrated that; we are absolutely delighted and thankful for everyone’s generosity.”
Auctioneer Andrew Morgan said the Wow! Gorillas are a lasting work of art and memento of Bristol Zoo’s milestone year. “These wonderful gorillas have been a spectacular success and I was delighted and honored to be asked to auction them,” he said. “The lucky bidders who bought a Wow! Gorilla will, not only be directly supporting two excellent charities, but will be acquiring a lasting and valuable work of art.”
Talking about the auction, Ria Russell, Director of Britannia Lanes of Bristol and Somerset, said that it was a long night but well worth it. “It was very exciting. On top of that, a baby gorilla has just been born at Bristol zoo.” Altogether now … Awwww!
Photo: Ria Russell and artist Arianne Wolodarski who painted Alfred the life-like gorilla.