Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines unveils new patchwork livery on flagship 'Balmoral' to raise awareness of Suffolk Hospice campaign

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines unveils new patchwork livery on flagship 'Balmoral' to raise awareness of Suffolk Hospice campaign

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines has unveiled a bright new patchwork livery on its flagship, Balmoral, to help to raise awareness of a fundraising campaign in aid of Suffolk-based St Elizabeth Hospice – ‘Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk’.

In line with the Fred. Olsen ethos of continual improvement and upgrading of its fleet, Balmoral has been adorned with an eye-catching new patchwork livery. The vibrant pattern was chosen by Peter Deer, Commercial Director for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, to reflect the cruise line’s support of the ‘Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk’ campaign, based around the children’s picture book character, ‘Elmer the Patchwork Elephant’, created by David McKee.

The ‘Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk’ art project – to raise funds for Ipswich’s St Elizabeth Hospice – will be bringing 55 large Elmer sculptures and 85 ‘young Elmers’ to the county town in Summer 2019, and follows on from the hugely successful ‘Pigs Gone Wild’ trail in 2016. The Parade is once again being run in conjunction with public art event specialists, Wild in Art, and new partner, Andersen Press, who have published ‘Elmer’ for 30 years.

Starting with its flagship, Balmoral, the unique patchwork design will be rolled out across Fred. Olsen’s three other ocean ships – Braemar, Boudicca and Black Watch – over the coming months.

Fred. Olsen has commissioned its own ‘top secret’ sculpture for the campaign, designed by talented Trimley artist, Angela Ashford. The ‘big reveal’ of Fred. Olsen’s design will take place when the ‘Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk’ art trail gets underway officially on 15th June 2019.

Peter Deer, Commercial Director for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines said:

“St Elizabeth Hospice provides a vital service within our community, and has provided invaluable support to many of our colleagues and their families over the years, so we are so proud to be supporting ‘Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk’ as our major local charity campaign in 2019.

“The Hospice needs to generate £10.5 million to run every year, less than a quarter of which comes from the NHS. While we are already sponsoring and commissioning our very own Elmer sculpture for this Summer’s ‘Big Parade’, we wanted to go one step further and do more to promote the work of the Hospice and just how important this campaign is – and what better way to catch everyone’s attention than by showcasing the bold, bright patchwork colours of Elmer on our beautiful flagship, Balmoral, and across the rest of our cruise fleet?”