The Project – Storage and Distribution of Shaun the Sheep statues for the Heart of Kent Hospice fundraising art trail.

Shaun the Sheep in the Heart of Kent is presented by Heart of Kent Hospice, in partnership with Wild in Art, Aardman and Presenting Partner Maidstone Borough Council.

The trail took place in Maidstone June 2024 and featured 51 individually designed Shaun sculptures, accompanied by a flock of little Shauns. The large sculptures were designed and painted by local and national artists and these were auctioned at the end of the trail to raise money for the Hospice.

The little Shaun sculptures were designed and painted by young people from local schools and community groups and adults from care homes and organisations in the community. They were part of the Learning Programme and appeared on the summer trail, before returning to pride of place in their school, care home or community group as a legacy of the event.

The Process – Storage and Distribution Services

TPS Global Logistics were the official storage and distribution partner. The project included collecting the 51 large sculptures each H150cm L150cm W95cm and weighing 35kg, and 55 little Shauns each 67cm high x 70cm long and 42cm wide (about the size of a small dog) from one northerly depot and transporting them to our own Aylesford warehouse. Then delivering each sculpture to individual artists all over the UK for decoration, before returning to collect and store them in our warehouse.

This required some complex planning and logistics, the furthest north was Newcastle, we travelled North-East to Norfolk via Ipswich, North-West took us to Anglesey, with the Midlands, London and Southern Counties in between. Efficient routing/consolidated loads and cost-effective delivery using our own fleet of vehicles and drivers means we travelled just over 5,000 miles on this project, and we proudly announce that no sheep were harmed in the delivery and collection process!

Safely storing the flock

Allocated their own 240 sq metres of clean storage space within our Aylesford Warehouse, the sculptures all had to be palletised, unwrapped and then covered to hide and protect their designs.

The HOKH team had unlimited access for viewing, photography and promotional events throughout the year the sculptures were stored. The TPS warehouse team facilitated the positioning and lighting of the individual sculptures using various warehouse handling equipment.

Valuable cargo

The Shauns hit the streets in June and were returned to our Aylesford warehouse early in September, where they were inspected, repaired and restored to pristine condition by the HOKH team before being transported to the Farewell Weekend 13-15 September. They then returned to TPS for a short period before being delivered to to the Kent Event Centre for the fundraising auction night.

Post auction the sculptures returned to our warehouse for the last time ahead of us transporting them to their new owners, utilising our worldwide delivery service.

Community Partnerships

Shaun in the Heart of Kent is about partnerships. It brings together local businesses, schools, community groups and creative sectors to highlight the area’s best assets, inspire civic pride amongst residents, and boost the local economy. The trail helped to raise awareness and over £265,000 for Heart of Kent Hospice.

TPS were the proud sponsors of 2 Shaun Sculptures – All Ewe Need is Love and We Herd Ewe Like Ice Cream, both attracted lots of art trail visitors, downloads, likes and photos and contributed to the success of the trail. We donated 2 small sculptures to local primary schools, where they were decorated by the children before being returned to the school. We had our artic lorry sign written to raise awareness of the art trail.

What Heart of Kent Hospice have said about our partnership

“We have been extremely lucky to have TPS Global Logistics as our official storage and distribution Partners for Shaun the Sheep in the Heart of Kent. Not only have the team safely delivered and stored our precious Shaun cargo, they have gone above and beyond with regular requests to visit, take sculptures out, return them, host events, help with lifting – the list is endless. Every time a member of the Shaun team has visited, we’ve been greeted with huge smiles, felt very welcomed and given wonderful assistance from the TPS team. They have embraced the Shaun project and created some lasting memories from us all. It has been a terrific partnership.”