There’s been a flutter of interest in a High Street shop as 40 wooden butterflies decorated by celebrities and local artists have been auctioned off in support of a Haslemere woman and fundraiser.

Alan Titchmarsh, Fearne Cotton and Sam Fender were among the famous names that got painting in support of Caroline Wells and her Oesopheagoose charity, writes Marcus Fairweather.

The Haslemere artist, originally from North Yorkshire, launched the venture in memory of her butterfly-loving mother who sadly passed away from oesophageal cancer.

Caroline sent a blank wooden butterfly to artists, broadcasters and actors from both ends of the country during the summer and asked each of them to make it their own, with every one coming back.

Proceeds from the auction will go towards research and support at the Northern Oesophago-Gastric Cancer Fund at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle where Caroline’s mother was treated for the last two months of her life.

The 40 butterflies up for auction have been displayed at Clarendon Fine Art, with local artists Leigh Parker and Olga Houghton assembling every frame by hand before they appeared on the wall.

A variety of painting materials were used on the butterflies, with more than 20 participants being local to the Haslemere area and the rest coming from around the UK.

The auction also featured a board signed by celebrities including Sting and Lewis Capaldi in partnership with the Sunday for Sammy Trust.

Caroline said: “We were expecting only ten butterflies and we got far more than expected which was wonderful.

“For myself and my dad who also lives in Haslemere, it’s been amazing how the community has come together.

“We’ve seen two communities work together in parallel; both locally and in the North East who have been working their socks off to make butterflies and sadly passed away from oesophageal cancer.”