The auction saw a plethora of bidders both online and in-person compete to take home the individually designed, hand-painted giant rocket sculptures. The auction was presided over by celebrity auctioneer Charles Hanson.
The highest bid which scooped the Richard III Rocket King was £20,000, with Blue Army fetching £13,500.
The charity auction was a spectacular space-themed finale for the Rocket Round Leicester art trail, taking place in the atmospheric surroundings of Leicester’s National Space Centre.
The Rocket Round Leicester trail, which took place across ten weeks in the summer, saw 40 spectacularly-decorated Rocket sculptures and 38 mini Junior Jets steer a voyage of discovery across the city’s streets and open spaces like never before.
The Rockets were as diverse as Leicester itself with designs celebrating Leicester’s finest including Leicester City Football Club, Richard III and David Attenborough as well as unique features of the city like its community, wildlife, architecture and waterways.
Rocket Round Leicester has been brought to the city by LOROS Hospice together with leading art event producers Wild in Art. BID Leicester and Leicester City Council are the event's presenting partners.
John Knight, CEO of LOROS Hospice said: “We are absolutely delighted with the amount raised – it’s taken us to the moon and back! I would like to pass on a huge thank you to everyone who bid on one of these fantastic Rockets. Thanks to your generosity, our Hospice will be able to continue caring for patients and their families at the most difficult time of their lives.
“In fact I‘d like to extend my thanks to the wider community of Leicester who took the trail to their hearts and made it their own. As well as raising vital funds for our Hospice, it brought people together and provided some really fun times this summer!”
Charlie Langhorne, Managing Director and Co-founder of Wild in Art added, “It’s great to see that the Rockets will now go to new homes while leaving a lasting legacy through the funds raised for LOROS. A lot of hard work has gone into the trail and I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved, from the bidders to everyone who has supported Rocket Round Leicester over the summer.”
