Shropshire artist hopes truce painting will raise £20,000 for charity

David Thorp, who specialises in painting military scenes, has captured on canvas British and German soldiers playing football in No Man's Land during the Christmas truce on Christmas Eve, 1914.

Mr Thorp, of Apley, Telford, said he would be displaying the painting at this year's Shrewsbury Flower Show on August 14 and 15, before the winner of a raffle for the picture is finally announced at the Cheshire County Game Fair on August 16.

The 81-year-old has in the past raised thousands of pounds for good causes, including the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, by auctioning his paintings.

However, by raffling the painting, which is valued at around £2,500, Mr Thorp is hoping to raise £20,000, which will be split equally between the Royal British Legion and the Cheshire Regiment Benevolent Fund.

He has printed a total of 8,000 tickets, which will be on sale for £2.50 each at the Shrewsbury Flower show and Cheshire County Game Fair, as well as a the Royal Welsh Show from July 20 to 23, and the Cheshire County Show on June 23 and 24.

Mr Thorp, who is a member of a First World War re-enactment group, will be wearing the uniform of a First World War officer during the shows.

He said: "There were troops from various regiments on the Western Front; Welsh, Scottish, a Shropshire regiment and in particular the Cheshire Regiment which inspired this painting."

At the centre of the painting, Private Ernie Williams of the Cheshire Regiment ­— who gave an interview about the game in 1983 ­— is pictured tackling a German who thinks he has the ball.

Mr Thorp said he was trying to trace the latest descendants of Private Williams, as well as fellow soldiers Frank Naden and Charles B Brockbank who also feature in the painting, with a view to presenting them with signed prints of the painting.