Gromits help to raise £3.8m for sick children

Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal has raised £3.8m towards the expansion of Bristol Children's Hospital - exceeding its initial target by £300,000.

The charity is now launching a second phase of fundraising to raise an additional £1.2 million for pioneering equipment and services, to bring the total to £5m.

The appeal was boosted by the hugely popular Gromit Unleashed trail, which saw 80 giant Gromits scattered around Bristol last summer.

The sculptures were auctioned off in October for a total of £2.3m, with one Gromit selling for a staggering £65,000.

Since then, miniature Gromit figurines have been sold at the charity's Cribbs Causeway store. Customers were spending an average of £5,000 per day on merchandise.