Silent Auction for Maggi Hambling Painting raises £6000

SILENT AUCTION FOR MAGGI HAMBLING PAINTING RAISES £6000 FOR THE SUFFOLK PUNCH TRUST     The distinguished Suffolk painter and sculptor Maggi Hambling recently donated one of her series of North Sea paintings Crest of a Wave to be sold by silent auction with all proceeds going to the Suffolk Punch Trust.   The painting was on display and the silent auction conducted by Robin Fournel of Fournels Jewellers, Aldeburgh and was sold to a local buyer for £6000.   Crest of a Wave (an oil on canvas 10ins by 12 ins and framed)  is one of her series of North Sea paintings which began in 2002 during the preparation of her sculpture Scallop which was unveiled on Aldeburgh beach in 2003. An exhibition The Sea - paintings by L S Lowry and Maggi Hambling will open at The Lowry in Salford for 4 months from 17th October until 31st January 2010.    Maggi Hambling was recently invited by the chairman of the Trust Philip Ryder-Davies to spend an afternoon at the Trusts Colony Stud and met 7 Suffolk Punch foals born there this year.   She said that the afternoon visit had reminded her very much of her childhood visits to her grandfathers farm at nearby Tunstall. He always had Suffolk Punch horses and so these were the first working horses I encountered as a child.  Thereafter other breeds paled into insignificance beside such ancient, chunky, chesnut splendour.  I salute the vital work of the Trust at Hollesley Bay which ensures that our native Suffolk animals are rightly celebrated and perpetuated.