Understand
Mayor buys £2,000 artwork by late artist and returns it to her family
Overview
The Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen, Councillor Mahfooz Hussain, successfully bid £2,000 for an unfinished artwork by the late Francesca McCaigue at a charity ball, subsequently returning the piece to her grieving family.
Key points
- Francesca McCaigue, who had complex congenital heart disease, died in July at the age of 22 before she could finish an artwork intended for a Derian House Children's Hospice charity ball.
- Her sister Chlöe completed the artwork as a tribute, which was then auctioned at the hospice's second charity ball.
- The Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen, Councillor Mahfooz Hussain, placed the winning £2,000 bid and returned the artwork to Francesca's mother and sister.
- The charity ball raised a total of £43,226 for Derian House, which supports children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions.