You’ve enjoyed giant owls across Chichester and Arundel this summer. Now you can see them all in one place.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, grief arts editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now over
00:06the summer we've had the Big Hoot and it has been fabulous, hasn't it? Dozens of owls in
00:12Chichester and Arundel, giant owls, all fundraising for Chestnut Tree House Hospice. Now that's
00:17coming to an end and it's a few more events to go, but coming to an end for the moment
00:23and lovely to speak to Alison Taylor, fundraising manager at the hospice. It's been brilliant,
00:28hasn't it? You must be so pleased with the way they've been received, the way they've
00:32been admired. Yeah, it's just been incredible seeing everybody out there enjoying the owls.
00:38Obviously not many people knew what was happening and then suddenly 30 big owls were placed
00:44around Arundel and Chichester for everyone to enjoy throughout the summer. So yeah, it's
00:48just been lovely seeing families enjoying it and sponsors coming out and finding their
00:53owls as well. So yeah, we've had such a huge, huge response. And obviously you could have
00:57predicted that people would love it, but that love has gone beyond what you were expecting,
01:02hasn't it? Yeah, definitely. Just seeing people with medals around their necks when they've
01:08done some fundraising. We've had people doing 5Ks around the trail. Yeah, just the unique
01:15ideas of a bit of extra fundraising and help us to raise awareness. Yeah, it's just been
01:20beautiful to watch. And so far the fundraising has gone pretty well, hasn't it? It has. Yeah,
01:25we're very fortunate to have all our sponsors on board. So, you know, without them, we wouldn't
01:29be able to put the trail on. So we're up to about 80,000 at the minute, which is really
01:34exciting. There's retail merchandise that you can buy in our shops online as well. And
01:39obviously do your own fundraising as well. And I think, when I spoke to your chief operating
01:45officer, she was talking about possibly a six-figure sum. Well, goodness, you're not
01:48far off, are you? No. That's with the auction still to come. So let's talk about the two
01:54things that are happening next. Yeah, definitely. The farewell event for the owls. That's going
01:59to be where and when? So that is coming up on the 13th to the 15th of September. And
02:06that's taking place at the Arundel Cathedral Centre. So do come along and it'll be a great
02:11opportunity to see all the owls together for the final time. You can find ones that you
02:16weren't able to find on the trail. There'll be lots of activities for the children. There'll
02:20be music, there'll be owls, lots of cake and tea and drinks as well. So yeah, do come
02:26along. It'd be a great opportunity just to bring your friends and family. And a great
02:31opportunity to think about your bids at the auction, which will be back in Chichester
02:36on September the 19th, won't it? Yes. How will the auction work? Is that in person,
02:41online? So we're really encouraging people to come along for the evening. It's such a
02:46beautiful venue to have the auction in. There'll be live music, there'll be drinks, there'll
02:50be canapes. And again, just being in kind of the heart of the auction would be fantastic.
02:56Sorry, that auction will be where exactly? At Chichester Cathedral on the 19th of September.
03:02So yeah, it's a fantastic building to have and we're really pleased to be working with
03:07them on this. And a great place to finish the great big hoot adventure. Yes, yeah, definitely.
03:13It'll be incredible. So if you are interested in coming along, do look on the Big Hoot website
03:18under the auction. And you can book your tickets there online. And if you want to watch the auction
03:23online as well, you can register for that. There'll be links sent out to people. But yeah,
03:28do come along if you can. It'd be great to be part of the legacy of Big Hoot and the first
03:33art trail in West Sussex. Absolutely. And it's been stupendously colourful, hasn't it? And great
03:38fun, but in a really serious, important, crucial cause. Yeah, definitely. It's really helped us
03:45raise awareness for Chestnut Tree House. It's our 21st year this year. So we wanted to do something
03:51special to commemorate all the hospice care that we've provided over the years. And to begin with,
03:56we were caring for about 30 children, and now we're caring for over 300. But we do think there's
04:02more children out there that could do with our help and support. So something like this just
04:06really helps kind of make people aware of what we do. And maybe if someone is out there asking
04:11for help or looking for help, then hopefully they can get in touch and we'll be able to support
04:15them. So it's been amazing. And it's too soon to say for sure, isn't it? But you're not ruling
04:22out doing something similar, maybe a couple of years time without putting you on the spot,
04:27but you are. Maybe we'll have a bit of a rest. We'll recover from this big project.
04:37Yeah, see what the future holds. Fantastic. Well, congratulations. It's been a superb event. It
04:42really has been so beautiful and so well just fun, hasn't it? Yeah. And just thank you to everybody
04:47that's kind of got behind it. And we hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have and given you
04:52something exciting to do throughout the summer holidays as well. So yeah, thank you to everyone.
04:57Lovely. Really nice to speak to you again. And thank you. Bye-bye.