Newark artist donates paintings to veterans charity Newark Patriotic Fund after fire and flood damage to the Arcade Framing Gallery forced him to move stock into garage

An artist has donated several of his paintings to a charity providing veterans with support.

Tony Goulding is a Newark-based artist who takes inspiration from the town and his experiences in the military.

As a nearly 30-year veteran of the RAF Regiment himself, Tony chose the Newark Patriotic Fund so that his works could be sold to raise funds, allowing the charity to continue helping his fellow veterans.

The Newark Patriotic Fund provides support to veterans and their families across Newark, offering mental health counselling, housing and social events as well as more practical advice such as financial training, job applications and CV writing.

Tony was the resident artist at the Arcade Framing Gallery in Newark but was forced to move out when the business suffered a fire and a flood that led to the temporary closure of the town-centre shop.

Moving out of the premises meant that Tony now had to store much of his work at home along with prints and boxes of calendars that were also sold in the shop. To make space for new paintings, he decided to donate them to charity.

“I just want to clear the decks and start fresh,” he said.

“I want to start creating new stuff again and that’s when this idea of donation came to me. It helps me out and it does good.”

Tony hopes to be back at the Arcade Gallery again after Christmas with repair and building works anticipated to be completed by January.

He said: “I have my home studio but I liked the interaction I had in the gallery, so I look forward to being back.”

In total 11 prints and three original painting have been donated, including scenes of Newark and a painting of a Lancaster bomber.