Blacksmith's exclusive £3,000 creation could be yours for 50p

Talented Ben Autie, and his assistant Matt Garton, from the Lewes Forge in Fisher Street, hand-forged the metal bench.

They will be holding a raffle for it, to raise funds for the Working Horse Trust in Eridge.

The bench is worth £3,000, but raffle tickets are priced at only 50p – which means something of a bargain for the lucky winner.

Ben said: “We did a similar thing last year for charity, and thought we would give it a go again. It took about three and a half weeks to make but we thought it was just something nice to do.

“The Working Horse Trust does an amazing job promoting and preserving traditional breeds of working horses.

“Three of these, the Clydesdale, Shire and Suffolk, are rated by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as vulnerable, endangered and critical respectively.

“It is the only charity of its kind in the UK and is volunteer-based with just one permanent paid member of staff. It relies entirely on its own resources to raise funds, so it needs help.”

Tickets are available now from the Lewes Forge. It will be opening for the Artwave Festival on August 28 and 29, and again on September 4, 5, 11 and 12, where the bench will be on show.

The raffle will be drawn at the end of Artwave.