An art exhibition at Great Yarmouth Minster has raised £5,400 for a hospital that saved the sight of its organiser.

The Art for Eyes exhibition had been organised by Caister resident Phil Lynes, an amateur artist whose eyesight was saved by staff at the James Paget University Hospital over the course of two operations after he suffered detached retinas.

The exhibition ran in the Minster between Saturday, April 30 and Friday, May 6 and had more than 280 pieces of art on display donated by 85 artists for sale.

Mr Lynes said: "The final figure we raised was £5, 400, which was amazing.

"We had great support from the public coming along to look and buy pictures."


In 2016 Mr Lynes had been gardening at his home when he started to lose sight in his left eye due to a detached retina - leading to an emergency operation.

Then two years later he started to lose the sight in his right eye, leading to another emergency operation to repair a detached retina.