The Yellow Room Triptych initiative

Friends of NERAM Chair, Lynne Walker, with Les Davis, Manager of the National Trust’s Saumarez Homestead, secreting a jigsaw piece, August 1 2011

We are proud that the initiative to buy the Yellow Room came from Packsaddle. One of the inspired fundraising ideas for the Olley project was the jigsaw.

A large reproduction of the YRT was cut into jigsaw puzzle pieces, many in ‘whimsy’ shapes the same as some pieces of the furniture in the painting. These pieces were given a value according to size and prominence ranging from $80 to $5,000.

Conceived by Richard Bird, and executed by David Windeyer, both long time Friends of NERAM, the puzzle appeal attracted a wide range of Armidalians. Garden clubs, book clubs, schools, businesses, families and individuals flocked to NERAM to acquire their ‘own piece’. Over $45,000 was raised in five weeks.