Eloise Gullis and her partner Luke Ballard from Creekmoor became the first to complete The Great Tail Trail, locating all 88 mermaid tail sculptures across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) in just eleven hours during the trail’s debut week.
Eloise, who works for trail sponsor, IT & telecoms service provider, Grapevine, and Luke, a teacher, say they “loved the concept’ of the sculpture art trail, which is raising vital funds and awareness for children’s hospice charity, Julia’s House.
“Grapevine is a keen supporter of Julia’s House. I try to get involved wherever I can and have learnt a lot about the important work of the charity.” says Eloise. “Most recently I volunteered at the charity’s shop in Creekmoor, helping to wrap books for the Santa’s Grotto! Luke and I agreed The Great Tail Trail would be a lovely thing to do together for the Easter holiday and a great way to celebrate my last day of being 28!”
The pair’s epic trail adventure began at Tower Park at 8am, and by 2pm they had managed to cover most of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Hengistbury Head by driving to key locations and then walking or running to find the sculptures.
“We downloaded The Great Tail Trail app and used it for locating the tails. It was great to see a live location of ourselves so we knew how close we were getting to each sculpture, which always resulted in a final sprint!” Eloise reveals. “We enjoyed sharing what we were doing with everyone we passed, which meant we got quite a few cheers along the way! The staff in the Julia’s House shops we visited were very enthusiastic about our challenge, so if you’re planning on doing the trail make sure you let everyone know as the support you receive is fantastic!”
Despite popping home for a lunchtime break to visit their miniature Dachshund, Norbert, the tail-tastic duo were back out on the trail again at 3pm and had eventually completed all 88 sculptures by 7pm, totalling a mer-mazing 33,656 steps.
“The trail was so much fun and the mermaid tail sculptures are really beautiful! We both loved the cow print tail ‘Moomaid’ by artist Isobel Letham and of course Jina Gelder’s ‘Shake Your Tailfeather’s, the sculpture sponsored by Grapevine – we even bought the tote bag to match!” says Eloise. “At each sculpture we took a selfie and we plan to make a collage with them – we absolutely loved the challenge!
“There are some lovely sea-themed goodies available to buy from Julia’s House shops. We also purchased the Paint Your Own Tail kits and got a trail map to keep as a little memory of the day. Luke and I hope that all of our purchases and donations of money help Julia’s House continue it’s amazing service caring for seriously ill children across Dorset.”
“Eloise and Luke’s achievement in completing The Great Tail Trail in one day is just fin-omenal!” says Laura Maidment, Public Fundraising Manager for Julia’s House. “We are so grateful for their support and really happy that they had such a wonderful day out on the trail. We’ve had a great response to the trail so far, with so many people taking part and so much positive feedback and support for Julia’s House. It’s been amazing to meet people on the trail, join our sponsors and artists celebrating with their sculptures and see everyone having such a great time.
“For anyone who hasn’t had a chance to take part yet – please come and join in! It’s free to take part, and if you download the app from the App Store or Google Play for £1.99 you will be making a much-needed donation to Julia’s House. The app helps you locate and collect all 88 sculptures across BCP and you’ll be able to access some amazing rewards from our sculpture sponsors, too!”
The Great Tail Trail is open until 1 June. Once the trail is over a final Farewell Weekend will take place at the Bournemouth International Centre from 14-15 June, with all the sculptures on display under one roof, along with children’s activities, an opportunity to meet the artists and paint your own tail sessions.
And if you fancy becoming the owner of your very own giant mermaid tail, there’s an opportunity to bid for your favourite designs at a Grand Auction on 20 June, with all proceeds going to Julia’s House.