Oor Wullie Noo returns to his beloved family of care homes

Published

16th September 2016

Oor Wullie Noo, one of Oor Wullie\'s Bucket Trail\'s most popular sculptures at Tuesday night\'s auction, will return to live with his sponsors, Balhousie Care Group, after their Chairman, Tony Banks, personally bid for the sculpture. After a nail-biting bidding war, Mr Banks managed to secure Oor Wullie Noo for £18,000 with an online bid.

The sculpture, which depicts what Oor Wullie would like as an 80-year-old, has a special connection with Balhousie as the residents provided inspiration for the design of the sculpture.

Two residents from Balhousie St Ronan\'s Care Home modelled for local artist, Alison Price, as she painted the sculpture on site a few weeks before Oor Wullie\'s Bucket Trail commenced. Barbara Clubb modelled her hands and Alison studied Raymond Mennie to capture his facial features.

Now fondly renamed ‘Auld Wullie\' by the team at Balhousie, plans are under way for Auld Wullie to tour all 25 of Balhousie\'s care homes across the North East of Scotland, from as far north as Huntly, to Bonnybridge.

Louise Barnett, Director of Operations at Balhousie Care Group, commented:

\"It has been wonderful to be involved in such an incredibly popular public art project in Dundee this summer. We are over-the-moon to be welcoming Auld Wullie back to where he was inspired. As an 80-year-old, we are sure he will get on famously with our residents and will enjoy visiting them across all 25 of our care homes. I\'d like to thank Tony for very generously bidding to ensure Auld Wullie came home to us.\"

A spectacular £883,000 was raised in total at Tuesday\'s auction and all proceeds will go towards The ARCHIE Foundation\'s

Tony Banks, Chairman of Balhousie Care Group added:

\"I am delighted to be able to support The ARCHIE Foundation\'s Tayside Children\'s Appeal by bidding on Auld Wullie and helping to make him a permanent fixture across our care homes. An incredible amount of money was raised at Tuesday\'s auction, which was all for a very worthy cause. I\'m sure many people across Balhousie Care Group will enjoy meeting the Auld Wullie on his tour of our 25 homes.\"

To find out more about Balhousie Care Group visit www.balhousiecare.co.uk

Balhousie Care Group

Balhousie Care homes provide residents with a happy, friendly, safe and caring environment coupled with an exceedingly high level of accommodation.

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