£2,500 Donation To Scarborough Museums Trust

Proudfoot supermarkets are supporting Scarborough Museums Trust this month with a donation of £2,500, raised solely from the sale of 5p single use carrier bags.

Proudfoot supermarkets have been raising money for local causes in this way since the introduction of the mandatory 5p carrier bag charge, and have already donated over £20,000 from the funds raised to charities in the area.

Scarborough Museums Trust is an independent charity which operates the Rotunda Museum, Scarborough Art Gallery and the Scarborough Collections. The donation from Proudfoot will fund a new exhibition which will see local artists create artwork from discarded plastics.

The donation has inspired the Trust to expand their autumn art exhibition by inviting the public to take part in a beach clean-up, which would also provide materials for some of the participating artists to use in their artwork.

Jennifer Dunne, Collections Manager at Scarborough Museums Trust, commented: “We were delighted when Proudfoot approached us with a kind offer to donate money to the Trust through the sale of plastic bags to their customers. So much so that it has inspired one of our forthcoming projects.

“The recycling issues that prompted the introduction of plastic bag sales and the current environmental problems facing our seas due to rising plastic pollution made us reconsider how to approach our next temporary exhibition. In autumn 2018 we have an exhibition planned at Scarborough Art Gallery called ScarboroArt. This exhibition will invite local artists to take inspiration from seascape paintings in our collections and reinterpret them by creating their own new works. However, we have now decided to expand the project and will be inviting the public to join us for a beach clean-up. Some of the artists will then use the materials collected as the medium for their artwork.”

Valerie Aston, director at The Proudfoot Group, added: “Despite seeing a huge decline in the usage of single use carrier bags in our stores following the introduction of the 5p charge, we are delighted that the funds raised from the remaining carrier bags bought by our customers are able to support some fantastic local causes.”

This week The Proudfoot Group spoke to BBC Radio York about this huge donation.