Anonymous donation of £335k saves Birkenhead artist's home

Granada Reports journalist Jennifer Buck had a tour of Ron's Place in September 2022

An anonymous donor has come forward with £335,000 to save a flat on the Wirral, which was transformed by an artist with a range of weird and wonderful features.

It was feared "Ron's Place" could be lost forever when the flat in Birkenhead was put up for auction, but now it has been saved after a campaign was set up.

The Saving Ron's Place group, which is supported by the singer Jarvis Cocker, said on Wednesday 1 March that an anonymous benefactor had lent them the money.

The loan will mean "Ron's Place" will be able to be run as a charity which campaigners said will promote art and mental health awareness.

Ron Gittins spent more than 33 years decorating the flat, and no surface was left untouched.

After his death in 2019 his family were awestruck by the sheer scale of what they discovered, largely due to the fact that their meetings usually took place elsewhere.

Ron had decorated almost every available surface, many painted with murals depicting historical scenes, with the artwork also including a huge lion fireplace, underwater scenes and themed rooms inspired by ancient Greece and ancient Egypt.

He moved into the flat in 1986 and, after an agreement with the landlord, decorated each room with a different masterpiece.

Ron was known locally as an eccentric character and amongst the gold mine of memorabilia discovered was a grenadier guard uniform he often wore.

As a younger man Ron attended the Laird School of Art in Birkenhead and had always lived and breathed his craft.

Niall Hodson, Currator Williamson Art Gallery, said: "Ron lived as an artist and it was a performance his whole life.

"He dressed as an artist, he dressed as his performance and walked around the street and in his house where he lived.

"He made artwork of the fireplaces, of the walls, he filled the place with his vision."