HOW often do we say: “I have never been there and it’s on my doorstep!”

A few days ago I set off for a rural part of West Sussex and squeezed a baron into the back of my car.

While travelling rather slowly round the Chichester bypass I noticed I was being stared at.

So who was this baron? Well firstly I should point out he is about 160cm tall and made of fibreglass and he was lying down looking up at the ceiling...

In 2015 the country will celebrate the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta, the agreement forced on King John by his barons. This document marks the first major attempt to grant certain rights and liberties to the people. Only four copies survive and Salisbury Cathedral has the best preserved, on display in its Chapter House.

Trussell Trust is a charity which is concerned with social justice so it made perfect sense for us to be involved in one of the major Magna Carta celebratory events being held in Salisbury next year.

In a recent survey Salisbury was selected as number seven of the top ten cities in the world to visit next year and the baron in my car will be playing a leading role in those celebrations. He’s brightly painted with iconic images of Wiltshire and a tableau of the sealing ceremony. He is the first of many who will form a trail around Salisbury for 10 weeks.

Then he and his fellow barons will be auctioned to benefit the work Trussell Trust does providing help to people in immediate crisis with food support and putting them in touch with agencies who can help them.

The other barons will be decorated by local and national artists simply using their imagination. So far we have had designs from spacemen to a First World War commemoration so I am sure there will be lots of people stopping and staring in the summer.

But my bigger hope is that local people will embrace the trail, visiting not only the sculptures but some of the venues where they will be sited.

Salisbury has so much to offer residents as well as visitors and this will provide us all with an opportunity to discover new places afresh and go to that place we have always been meaning to visit but have not yet managed to get to.

Mark Ward

Head of Fundraising, Trussell Trust