Wallace, Gromit and Feathers McGraw to all feature in Grand Appeal’s 2018 sculpture trail

A trio of familiar faces will take to the streets of Bristol next summer.

Gromit will return in sculpture form following the runaway success of Gromit Unleashed in 2013, and this time he will be joined by his owner Wallace and the evil Feathers McGraw.

The Gromits will be in a new sitting position from four years’ ago, with the Wallace figures sat on a bench ideal for a selfie next to the tens of thousands of people expected to enjoy the trail.

The world famous plasticine pair and their penguin arch nemesis will all be painted by artists, with some big names due to be revealed soon who will painting more than 60 sculptures to be placed across Bristol.

Trail organises also promise some surprises, with many of the sculptures due to feature animatronic elements.

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Grand Appeal brand and development manager Lauren Howard said that the original Gromit Unleashed had a reaction “beyond anything that we could ever have imagined”.

She said: “That simplicity of people discovering a sculpture across beautiful Bristol is something that we want to retain.

“People love the character so much that we wanted to bring it back. But we also wanted to move the trail forward, and it just felt natural to bring in Wallace, and of course we’re going to have so much fun with the evil Feathers McGraw too.”

Feathers McGraw and Wallace, with six-year-old Lois Booth

Gromit Unleashed II will begin on July 2 2018 when it will run for two months before the sculptures are auctioned to raise money for Bristol Children’s Hospital and the Special Care Baby Unit at St Michael’s Hospital.

The Grand Appeal charity has raised more than £50m since 1995, with the original Gromit Unleashed raising £3.8m.

Ten-year-old sculpture fan Leah Dunn from Mangotsfield was one of the first people to get a glimpse of the new sculptures when they were revealed at Aardman’s headquarters in Spike Island on Thursday afternoon.

Aardman super-fan Leah Dunn, 10, has been in a wheelchair since 2013 but is now learning to walk again

The year six pupil at Kings’ Forest Primary School in Kingswood was diagnosed with congenital nephrotic syndrome when she was a baby and since then has been a regular patient at Bristol Children’s Hospital.

In 2013, Leah had a kidney transplant at the hospital using a kidney donated by her dad Ash. Following the operation, her cartilage has regrown and she is learning to walk again.

“Bristol Children’s Hospital has done amazing things for me,” Leah told Bristol24/7. “They have helped me get through life and difficult times.

“I can’t wait for the new trail. I did Shaun the Sheep two years ago and doing a new trail next year is going to be amazing.”

There are limited sponsorship opportunities available. Visit www.gromitunleashed.org.uk/sponsors
to find out more. If you’re interested in applying to design a sculpture, or if you’d like to find out more about the schools programme, visit www.gromitunleashed.org.uk.

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