Lion sculpture trail in aid of hospital A&E appeal

An art trail featuring hundreds of colourful lion statues has been unveiled as part of efforts to raise £2.8m towards a new emergency department at Sheffield Children's Hospital.

The Pride of Yorkshire features 150 life-sized lion and lionesses, and 150 smaller lion cubs, which have been designed by artists, school pupils and community groups.

The trail, which stretches across South Yorkshire, also marks a milestone birthday, said Ellie Greenfield, from Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity.

She said: "It's a real celebration of art, of community, of talent, but above all, it's a celebration of 150 years of Sheffield Children's."

Greenfield said the hospital's emergency department first opened in 1977 and was designed to treat around 24,000 patients a year.

Today, however, it is operating "well beyond" its original capacity, with more than 62,000 children and young people attending each year.

Money raised from the trail will contribute towards a £20m project to redevelop the department, which includes plans for purpose-built clinical environments and the creation of spaces for high-quality care for patients with additional needs.

Greenfield said the lion theme was chosen because of the similarities between the animals and the children, families and staff at Sheffield Children's.

"They're really brave, they're very tenacious, they're very resilient and we also feel a little bit like Sheffield Children's is really the pride of Yorkshire," she said.

"It does such incredible work for children and young people not just in Sheffield, not just in South Yorkshire, but in the wider regions."

Visitors to the trail will be able to find, collect and keep track of their sculptures, both with a physical printed trail map and an interactive mini-site with quests and prizes.

One of the lions was designed by Sheffield artist Pete McKee, who is also a patron of the charity.

Created in collaboration with Westfield Health, his lion sculpture – named The Transplant Game – is a welcome to the British Transplant Games, which are coming to Sheffield this summer.

McKee underwent a life-saving liver transplant in 2017 after discovering he had a hereditary condition affecting his lungs and liver.

Other contributors who designed a sculpture include Sheffield-based Warp Films, The Reytons and Bring Me the Horizon's drummer, Mat Nicholls.

The Pride of Yorkshire follows the success of the charity's previous sculpture trails, Bears of Sheffield and Herd of Sheffield.

The full list of sculptures and their locations can be found here.

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