{"id":382833,"date":"2025-12-31T15:28:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T15:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/382833\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T15:28:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T15:28:13","slug":"hulls-giant-rat-sculptures-turning-heads-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/382833\/","title":{"rendered":"Hull’s giant rat sculptures turning heads"},"content":{"rendered":"

David McKenna,East Yorkshire and Lincolnshireand<\/p>\n

Amber Macey,in Little Weighton and Brough<\/p>\n

\"AmberAmber Macey\/BBC<\/p>\n

Jon Seth says, after sponsoring Ronno, he and his family were unable “to let him go”<\/p>\n

For most people, the largest ornament in the garden is perhaps a gnome or bird bath, but some have taken it to a whole new level following a charity auction of giant rat sculptures.<\/p>\n

A Mischief of Rats was made up of 45 6ft (1.8m) tall painted statues, displayed as part of a walking trail across Hull in the summer. <\/p>\n

They were created to pay tribute to local rock musician Mick Ronson who was a member of 1960s band The Rats before he became David Bowie’s guitarist.<\/p>\n

They were auctioned off in September, raising \u00a3160,000 for the Daisy Appeal, which supports Cottingham’s Castle Hill hospital.<\/p>\n

Here, we hear from some of those who could not resist purchasing a colourful smiley rat.<\/p>\n

\"AmberAmber Macey\/BBC<\/p>\n

Ronno Rat has taken pride of place in a village garden<\/p>\n

Jon Seth was one of those who had his heart set on acquiring one of the sculptures.<\/p>\n

He said his wife and son had been fans of previous art trails in Hull.<\/p>\n

“As soon as they heard about the rat trail, we very quicky signed up to sponsor a rat,” Mr Seth said.<\/p>\n

“Our rat of choice was always Ronno.”<\/p>\n

“None of us wanted to let him go so, as a sponsor, we were given the option to purchase him, and we did,” he added.<\/p>\n

\"AmberAmber Macey\/BBC<\/p>\n

Ian Ridpath says Blossom Whiskers is being well looked after at Mires Beck Nursery<\/p>\n

Mr Seth said the sculpture had raised a few eyebrows since it was relocated to his garden in Little Weighton, not least from his neighbour who “thinks we are mad”.<\/p>\n

However, he said: “We love having him here. He brightens up the garden and we found a perfect rat-shaped space for him to stand.”<\/p>\n

“He now seems quite happy.”<\/p>\n

A rat sculpture named Blossom Whiskers has taken pride of place at Mires Beck Nursery in Brough, which provides opportunities for adults with special educational needs and disabilites.<\/p>\n

\"AmberAmber Macey\/BBC<\/p>\n

Service user Emma says she loves having Blossom Whiskers at the nursery<\/p>\n

Service delivery manager Ian Ridpath said the donated sculpture, which “reflects some of the colours we have here in spring and summer”, was “a real positive”.<\/p>\n

“Not only does it give a sense of joy to people who come here – service users and staff alike – but there has been a real uptake in people being able to see Mires Beck and the amazing things we do,” he said.<\/p>\n

“A lot of the service users take pride in her and want to make sure she is well looked after.<\/p>\n

“She is a valued member of the team.”<\/p>\n

Service user Emma said: “We’ve enjoyed having her and we are privileged to have her for years to come,” she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David McKenna,East Yorkshire and Lincolnshireand Amber Macey,in Little Weighton and Brough Amber Macey\/BBC Jon Seth says, after sponsoring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-382833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}