A CHARITY’S art auction- which saw more than 100 artists donate their work to- has raised thousands of pounds to help individuals who self-harm.

ArtWorks-for SAFA raised £10,000 for Barrow and Kendal based charity SAFA (Self-Harm Awareness For All) which will go towards providing professional counselling to dozens of people in the county to overcome self-harming behaviours.

Ian Burns, chair of SAFA, said the funds will provide 350 hours of counselling sessions, enough for 45 people.

“The art auction has been an absolutely fantastic effort from all involved and has raised £10,000 to date, well above our ambitious target of £5,000," he said.

“To see such a wide range of talented artists donate their work for such a great cause was truly humbling.

“Over 100 artists generously donated nearly 250 pieces of artwork.

"Special mention to Sharon Tait, Pat Carroll, Diane Curwen and Tim Leeson who have done an amazing job engaging the artistic community whose response has been amazing.

“The total raised will fund over 350 individual counselling sessions for those most in need of help which equates to 45 people through a full course of counselling with SAFA.

“That is 45 people in our community helped from a very difficult place, 45 lives completely transformed, and the associated benefit and relief felt by hundreds of friends and family.

“Thank you once again to the artists for making such a huge difference.”

Artists who donated work included John Moores prize winning artist Martin Greenland and award-winning portrait artist Catherine MacDiarmid.