Giant Gromits unleashed in Bristol

5ft sculptures of Gromit - the dog from 'Wallace & Gromit' - will be unleashed onto the streets of Bristol for 10 weeks from July 2013. It's all in aid of Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children’s Hospital charity.

Around 60 individually designed Gromits will appear in his home base Bristol and beyond in the project called Gromit Unleashed.

They will be designed by international and local artists. Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park will be designing one of the sculptures on the trail himself.

He says "I can't wait to see how Gromit will look decorated by so many different artists. I love the concept of these art trails and to have ‘Gromit at large’ is slightly scary in a nice way for me, but also an incredible honour.”

Each 5ft Gromit will be available for business sponsorship before they are auctioned off in aid of Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal - the Bristol Children's Hospital charity.

Nick Park, who is also Patron of The Grand Appeal says “This will be a lovely fun project, which will hopefully appeal to all ages.  It’s always great to see how warm people are to Gromit and the work of the Grand Appeal is close to my heart.  All round, it’s a crackin’ idea!”

All funds from ‘Gromit Unleashed’ will go towards the charity’s appeal to support the expansion of Bristol Children’s Hospital. The Grand Appeal has pledged to raise an initial £3.5 million for state-of-the-art equipment, family facilities and child-friendly artwork to enhance the £30 million investment by the NHS.

Nicola Masters, Director of The Grand Appeal said “The sculptures are amazingly true to the original Gromit character we have all come to know and love and it will be fascinating to see what new adventures he gets up to in the hands of other artists. Wallace & Gromit are famous around the globe so this trail will also help shine an international spotlight on Bristol and encourage people to visit the city, as well as raising much-needed funds for our Appeal.”