Art trail of 50 giant rats to honour musician

The streets of East Yorkshire are set to be filled with 50 giant rat sculptures as part of a new art trail.

A Mischief of Rats will run from 3 May and is set to pay tribute to 1960's band The Rats, whose local musicians included the late Mick Ronson, ahead of what would have been his 80th birthday.

Co-director Clare Huby said they were looking for space to store the sculptures ahead of the trail and were hoping to speak to property owners and community members in the Hull area.

She added the 6ft (1.8m) tall giant rodents would be "very cute, sitting up on their hind legs looking at people."

She said: "The rats take up a lot of space, and we have to have somewhere to store them once they're made, until the sculpture opens.

"We also need somewhere like a studio so that our artists can paint them.

"My co-director Rick Welton is a huge music fan and I know people in Hull have been keen to have something that will honour Mick Ronson, so this just seemed like the perfect opportunity."

She added the project would also help the Daisy Appeal charity and the work it put into helping the Castle Hill Hospital for the treatment of cancers.

It will be similar to previous projects, including Larkin with Toads, A Moth for Amy and Puffins Galore.

Mick Ronson grew up in Hull and formed the band that went on to become The Spiders From Mars.

He then joined British rock band The Rats in 1966 before rising to fame as David Bowie's lead guitarist.

He died of cancer in 1993 aged 46.

Storage for the rat sculptures is needed from 3 February to 9 May.

The trail will run until the end of August.

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