A charity auction event for the Guiding Lights lighthouse sculptures, raising funds for St Luke's Hospice Plymouth.
St Luke's Hospice Plymouth is auctioning off the Guiding Lights sculptures at the University of Plymouth on 1 October, the final act of a summer-long art trail. If you've spent the last few months spotting the lighthouses around the city, this is where they all end up.
The trail itself runs from 6 July to 13 September, with over 40 lighthouse sculptures, each 2.4 metres tall, placed across Plymouth. They're designed by professional artists to celebrate the city's maritime history, with the lighthouse as a beacon of hope and safety. Among the names involved are patron and artist Brian Pollard, mural painter Mrs Murals (Ellie Johnson), and University of Plymouth graduate Alice Nimmo. It's a family-friendly thing, and you can follow the trail with an app for £1.99 or a printed map for a suggested £2 donation, both of which go to the hospice.
There's a second, smaller trail running alongside it: the Little Lights schools project, from 7 July to 13 September. Forty-two schools across Plymouth, Devon, and Cornwall each decorated a one-metre-tall lighthouse, and those are on display at The Box. The project provided educational resources to help schools start conversations around death and dying, so it's a bit more than just a painting exercise. The whole thing is produced by Wild in Art, who also did Elmer's Big Parade back in 2019.
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Before the auction, there's a farewell weekend from 25 to 27 September at Market Hall in Devonport, where you can see the sculptures one last time before they're sold. The auction on 1 October is the grand finale, with the proceeds going to St Luke's end-of-life care. So if you've had a favourite lighthouse this summer, that's your chance to actually take it home.
