Hosted by Scrum V presenter and current Graduate Entry Medicine student, Rick O’Shea, the evening saw the successful auction of three unique pieces, together with a reading of Dylan Thomas’s And Death Shall Have No Dominion by 2007 Academi John Tripp Award winner for spoken poetry, Peter Read.  

The exhibition, entitled The Healing Power of Beauty, featured specially selected paintings from original works by late local artist, Leonard Beard.  

The idea was conceived in 2007 when the School’s Rector of Health and Medicine, Professor Julian Hopkin, met Leonard through his wife, also an employee at the School, where he was enormously inspired by the artist’s work.  

The intention was that Leonard would complete a number of large canvases for the foyer of the School’s Institute of Life Science as well as a collection for the social hub of the building – Cafe Glas.  

Sadly in January 2008, before this full exhibition could come to fruition, Leonard died but during his last weeks of illness he agreed that the exhibition should go ahead as much as possible.

With this in mind, Cafe Glas is currently home to some twenty-seven paintings of elements of the world that Leonard found beautiful, from vibrant flowers and bright summer days to quaint boats and moody seascapes. They will remain on display there for up to six months.

All of the paintings on display are for sale and a quarter of all proceeds will be donated to the St David’s Medical Foundation.  

During the launch, which was attended by more than forty people including representatives from local art galleries, two of Leonard’s paintings were successfully auctioned – together with one other by local artist David Tress – and a further three have already been sold making a total of £650 donated to the foundation already.  

The exhibition is open to the public Monday to Friday from 8am until 6pm.  For more information, or to obtain a price list, contact the St David’s Medical Foundation on 01792 602743 or post@stdavidsmedicalfoundation.com.