Anna-Louise accepts role as Patron of Born Free Foundation
Anna-Louise is honoured and proud to have formally accepted the role of patron to The Born Free Foundation – a role Pollyanna held for many years.
Born Free work tirelessly to ensure that all animals, whether living in captivity or in the wild, are treated with compassion and respect. As a leading wildlife charity, they oppose the exploitation of wild animals in captivity and campaign to keep them where they belong – in the wild. They promote Compassionate Conservation to enhance the survival of threatened species in the wild and protect natural habitats while respecting the needs, and safeguarding the welfare, of individual animals.
Pollyanna and Anna-Louise both worked closely with Born Free for many years, first travelling to India in 1991 for Pollyanna to paint five tigers which had been rescued from a roadside circus in Kent. Anna-Louise later wrote about that journey in the book ‘Eye of the Tiger’, for which Born Free founder Virginia McKenna provided the foreword. Anna-Louise was instrumental in organising the many fundraising events staged in Pollyanna’s gallery for Born Free including exhibitions to commemorate their 25th and 30th anniversaries – as well as the launch of the book ‘Wildness’ which features Pollyanna’s paintings alongside the poetry of poet in residence Richard Bonfield.
Anna-Louise also accompanied Pollyanna on journeys to visit Born Free projects in South Africa and Ethiopia – and at the beginning of 2020 travelled to Kenya with the charity’s CEO Will Travers to work alongside him building lion proof enclosures for Masai cattle in Amboseli – a project co-funded by the Pollyanna Pickering Foundation. She is currently writing a talk about this journey, which will also tell the story of Pollyanna’s long association with the charity.
Anna-Louise commented “I am so honoured to have accepted the role of patron for Born Free. We have had close links with them for very many years – Pollyanna was passionate about painting animals in their natural wild habitats and this meant that her work harmonised perfectly with the ethos of Born Free. Like her I love the fact that they never forget the individual animal. It has been a privilege to visit many of their wonderful sanctuaries and see their conservation work in action. I am so proud to continue in Pollyanna’s footsteps and I know how much it would mean to her to know that I will be working alongside Born Free into the future.”
“I have a collection of beautiful artwork which Pollyanna was inspired to create through her work with Born Free, as well as sketches made during her visits to their projects round the world, and I am planning to stage a special fundraising exhibition of these in the future”.