Charity Aims to Raise £20,000 Through Sale of 3D Jersey Phone Card Model

A striking artwork built from thousands of old phone cards has been put up for sale, with part of the proceeds set to benefit four Jersey disability charities.

The three-dimensional model of the island was designed by local artist Jane de la Haye after being commissioned by James Bedding, who has pledged that each of the selected charities will receive a minimum of £5,000.

Bedding, who became paralysed from the shoulders down after an accident in 1998, said each organisation had played an important role in his life.

“These charities have supported me, as well as many others living with different disabilities, and I firmly believe they deserve greater financial support,” he said.He highlighted Maison des Landes, the island’s only fully accessible hotel; Healing Waves, which offers ocean therapy and adaptive surfing; Enable Jersey, which provides wider disability support; and Beach Ability, a group that supplies beach wheelchairs to help people reach the shoreline.

The artwork titled, Connection measures two metres by one metre and was first shown at the Maritime Museum earlier this year. It is currently on display at the Public & Private art gallery in St Helier.

The piece required around 9,000 phone cards and 900 hours to complete. Bedding, a drone pilot and photographer, said he began collecting the cards as a youngster.“I amassed about 30,000 of them. I didn’t want them forgotten or boxed away, so the idea was to bring them back to life as part of something spectacular.”

Artist Jane de la Haye previously described the creative process as “a lot of cutting and a huge amount of glue,” adding that the beaches and miniature model details were her favourite elements to construct. “I could picture the final piece from the start—it was just a matter of getting there,” she said.

Connection is now on the market for £120,000.