A BUST of the late Captain Sir Tom Moore by West Cornwall sculptor Penny Lally, will be at the centre of an exciting online auction being held by Cornwall Hospice Care in March.

A number of artists have donated 100 items to the Cornish healthcare charity, including Ken Howard OBE RA, who’s given a stunning oil on canvas of St Michael’s Mount.

“I was amusing myself in the first lockdown sculpting famous people’s faces when Captain Sir Tom started his walk,” explained Penny.

“It was meant to be as the sculpture came together really quickly and I decided to cast it in bronze resin.”

Amongst Penny’s other works is a bust of Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty that’s now in Manchester Art Gallery ready for the opening of a Grayson Perry Exhibition.

“I’m very proud of my work as it’s a hobby really and people are surprised when I tell them I’ve sculpted 111 faces of all sorts of people during this pandemic.”

Penny’s links to Cornwall Hospice Care and St Julia’s Hospice in particular, go back a long way.

In 2008 she and a friend were part of a team who raised £90,000 on a trek to Peru for the charity.

Both had husbands who died from cancer and now Penny visits the hospice with her dog.

Penny says it was her determination to keep raising money for the charity that relies on public support, that prompted her to donate the bust of Captain Sir Tom to the auction.

“I sold a bust of Dominic Cummings to a man who wanted it as a memento of this historic period.”