Local legend and world-renowned artist Joe Scarborough captivated an audience of 160 at Sheffield’s Town Hall.

The night was held in support of the Lord Mayor of Sheffield’s Charity. Her chosen charities, for her term as Lord Mayor, are Sheffield Hospitals Charity, Salvation Army and Hi5’s. To date the evening has raised over £1000 for the Lord Mayor’s Charity.

Joe was interviewed by Simon Thake from BBC Radio Sheffield on all aspects of his life, both personal and his professional career.

A gallery of Joe’s original paintings were displayed in the drinks reception prior to the event for guests to admire. There was a painting displayed from each decade of his career which expertly showcased his talent and unique artistic style, or ‘act’ as Joe likes to call it.

Joe explained how he started his career painting maritime scenes because he believed these would be popular due to Sheffield being nearly 90 miles from the nearest coastline and most of the population at that time will have never seen the sea. However, his plan didn’t quite come to fruition because he didn’t sell any of these paintings which is when he turned to depicting the streets around him on canvas instead.

Two lucky audience members were drawn as the winners of Joe’s famous Sheffield Through the Ages print which took him 6 years to complete and is designed as a visual walk through the city through time, starting in 1940. The original is a staggering nine and half metres long and can now be seen in Weston Park Museum. Each guest was given a raffle ticket on entry to be entered into the prize draw to win the painting kindly donated by Joe.

Joe had the whole audience in laughter from start to finish by sharing insights into the stories behind his artwork collection and reminiscing on a lifetime of Sheffield memories.

Gareth Aston from beneficiary charity Sheffield Hospitals Charity said

We are deeply humbled that Joe was able to support us and the rest of the Lord Mayor’s charities in this way, it was a fabulous evening. Only problem… it was not long enough. Guests could have listened to Joe’s captivating stories well into the night!

Audience member Nat Jones said

What a legend, a fantastic evening with Joe Scarborough… a privilege to listen with fascination and awe thanks to everyone for a super night.

Next event for the Lord Mayor of Sheffield Charity is “The Big Night Out” featuring music legend Tony Christie at the OEC in Sheffield on the 21^st April. To buy tickets click here.