On 1st August the Babylon Gallery reopened its doors to the public after being closed for 137 days and to help mark this special occasion the residents of Cardinals Way and Cardinals Terrace, came to present a cheque for £403 to the charity.
The donation was the proceeds of a virtual garage sale, which saw 20 local households sell items from ‘lockdown clear-outs’ online. Organiser, Heather Howard, explained that “we had set-up a WhatsApp Group for residents to share tips during the Lockdown, and through this, we came up with the idea of supporting our local arts centre with a virtual garage sale”.
She went on to add “I hoped we’d raise at least £100 and so it’s been great to raise just over £400 for Babylon ARTS”.
Chief executive, Claire Somerville said “It was a lovely surprise when Heather contacted us to say they were going to give their virtual garage sale proceeds to us; it’s a testament to the generosity of our community and how much they value what we do – we’re really grateful for their support.”
The Babylon Gallery is now open Tuesday to Sunday 12pm to 4pm; with its annual selected Summer Open Exhibition, which includes 100 artworks from over 60 artists.