Long-Term Promise

In July 2006, Nancy was attending the PACE stall at the Ouseburn Festival, held under Byker Bridge in east Newcastle. There, a graceful little boy with a full head of straw-coloured hair, and his mother, Kim, bought from the stall and she remembered them well from the previous year as they had shown lots of interest in PACE then. Tony had asked his mother why some paintings by Ray xxxxx were on display, had been told it was the artist’s way of helping to raise funds for the chimps, and had then stated that he, too, wanted to do what he could for the chimps by painting some pictures of his own.

A whole year later and now aged seven, Tony handed Nancy four paintings which he had clearly created with great care - a whale surrounded by fish, a plant pot containing flowers, a chimpanzee and many poppies with greenery.

Nancy was taken by Tony's persistence and his mother's encouragement; Ray wished to show his appreciation of this very kind and very young boy, so reciprocated by producing two paintings, of his sixteen-year old, symmetrically-marked cat Zoe, as, according to Kim, cats are Tony's favourite.

At a subsequent fair, a lady left a group of friends to approach Nancy’s stall and politely asked how much were Tony's paintings. Nancy replied, "At least a pound?" to which she generously gave five - for the eye-catching poppies. We’re sure Tony will be very gratified to know how his efforts have borne fruit! Thank you very much, Tony.

News 07 index