Painted porkers bring home the bacon

They launched the festival in spectacular style and now these multi-coloured porkers have also raised money for charity.

Thirty life-size pig models, hand decorated by various community groups, became the unexpected stars of the 30th Lichfield Festival.

They were brought together for the start of the 10-day event and then placed at locations around the city, forming a festival pig trail. Yesterday they were given a final outing before being auctioned off for charity.

Schools, local businesses, clubs and individuals paid £100 for the fibreglass-resin squealers and spent weeks turning them into works of art.

Among the most colourful sculptures were Pig 'n' Mix which was covered in sweets by pupils from The Croft and Hayes Meadow primary schools, Rugeley, a psychedelic porker called Gaudi decorated in a broken-glass mosaic by Fair Oak Business and Enterprise College, Rugeley, and Meating, divided into cuts of meat and created by the GrowWell Care Farm Project group of Burntwood.

However the festival mascot, called Trevor Pig, who built up a strong following on Facebook after organisers set up a page for him, will return to Packington Pork Farm in Barton under Needwood, which sponsored the pig project.

Other funding came from Lichfield District Council, Lichfield City Council, Burntwood Town Council, Armitage with Handsacre Parish Council and Bromford Living. The project follows in the footsteps of similar schemes in Bath, London and major cities across the world as a piece of public art designed to get people talking.

Visitors to the city were invited to call the festival team if they spotted the festival mascot and received free tickets for a festival event in return.

The owners of each sculpture were able to choose which charity half the money raised from the auction of their pig would go to.