Pride on the move

4 September 2010, 06:00

It's been one of the county's surprise tourist attractions of the summer but the decorated lion statues that have brought thousands of people into Northampton are on the move.

The lions are being removed from their locations around the town after Sunday so they can be spruced up and restored to showroom condition by their sponsors and artists.

They've been on the streets for the last ten weeks and even have their own Facebook page and I-phone App.  They've proved hugely succcesful with some residents leaving comments on the website saying it's the best thing Northampton's done in ages.

But the statues have to be rounded - or herded - up after Sunday so they can be made ready for a charity auction taking place later this month.

The idea of the event was always to have the statues on show for a limited time over the summer months and then auction them off to the highest bidder.  It's thought the auction could raise £70,000 with a quarter of the money going to Wild In Art and the rest being split between the Cynthia Spencer Hospice and the Born Free Foundation.

The auction is at the Park Inn hotel on the 23rd September