“For us this is a very special year.
2009 is the Born Free Foundation’s 25th Anniversary. That’s
25 years of saving lives, trying to stop cruelty, protecting
species and changing attitudes. This vital work has only been
possible because of your wonderful assistance, and I do thank
you for sharing our charity’s dream of a better world
for wild animals.”
Virginia McKenna
Pollyanna presents Virginia with a wolf picture
during a fundraising campaign in 2004
Pollyanna visits Born Free projects in South
Africa
Virginia wrote the foreword for 'The Eye of
the Tiger' which tells the story of Pollyanna's journey to India
to see five tigers rescued by the Foundation.
“Born Free never forgets the individual. Every
animal counts. Our emergency teams rescue vulnerable animals
from appalling lives of misery in tiny cages and give them lifetime
care at spacious sanctuaries. Born Free saves orphaned big cats,
great apes and elephants and provides their food and care.”
Will Travers
Find out more about Born
Free's 25th anniversary, including more events you can attend
here
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Exhibition
for 25th Anniversary of Born Free Foundation
Virginia McKenna and Will
Travers visit Pollyanna's gallery
20th June - 5th July
10.00am - 6.00pm admission free
The Gallery, Brookvale House, Oaker, Matlock,
Derbyshire DE4 2JJ (AA signposted)
click here for printable
directions
This summer, Pollyanna will be proud to present the first public
exhibition of a new collection of paintings inspired by the
work of the Born Free Foundation, who are celebrating their
25th anniversary this year.
The Born Free Foundation is a dynamic international wildlife
charity, devoted to compassionate conservation and animal welfare.
They take action worldwide to protect threatened species and
stop individual animal suffering. Born Free was founded by actress
and conservationist Virginia McKenna and her late husband Bill
Travers.
Pollyanna first worked with Born Free In 1990 when she travelled
to the Bhannaghatta reserve in Southern
India to paint five tigers rescued from appalling
conditions in a roadside circus and flown to this sanctuary
by the charity. The story of her remarkable journey to find
the tigers is told in the book ‘The
Eye of the Tiger’, for which Virginia McKenna
wrote the foreword. Pollyanna has returned to her original sketches
to complete a brand new series of paintings of the Born Free
Tigers especially for this anniversary event. Virginia also
contributed the foreword to Pollyanna’s first book Giant
Pandas and Sleeping Dragons” – both will be available
in the gallery throughout the exhibition.
Since then, Pollyanna has been pleased to continue to support
the work of Born Free – she has painted exclusive Christmas
cards for the Foundation and was delighted to join them at their
21st anniversary celebrations at the Royal Geographical Society
in 2005. The Pollyanna Pickering Foundation has also been able
to contribute funding towards several of their projects, including
purchasing equipment for their Orphan Polar Bear rescue project
(this rescue scheme based in Canada is the only project which
aims to re-release orphaned polar bears back into the wild),
and providing funding for the Ethiopian
Wolf Conservation Project, which vaccinates this
vulnerable species against rabies.
Last year Pollyanna travelled to South Africa where she visited
Born Free’s Big cat sanctuary at Shamwari
to sketch lions and leopards rescued from zoos, circuses
and other captive facilities,now at home under the African sun.
Pollyanna was delighted to meet the wonderful peopleworking
with the big cats at the centre, and to see the enclosures donations
from her Foundationhelped to build! Her first paintings of these
cats will be included in this exhibition Including the canvas
of Sinbad the lion, below) , alongside a series of works inspired
by Joy Adamson’s original books.
“I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that you
would like to do your Summer Exhibition as a Born Free celebration….
We are delighted”
Virginia McKenna
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