Where has the money gone?
The stories we put here are ones we’ve heard of, sometimes they have been passed on through several people. If you have something to add we’d love to hear from you.
Tip: Scroll down and read up for a chronological account of events. We post the most recent stories at the top – but you can read about Pig as one big story, if you like!
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Open 71: Sunday 4th September, Budapest
The two people from open 70 observed as people contributed to the Pig all day and decided to open it again. And again they contributed some coins before they began to open it. Another group of people (a group of artists) had also been observing and also approached Pig as they began to undo the nuts. They wanted to start a dialogue about the community fund and come to an agreement on how the money was spent together. Another member of the street community approached and was unhappy about Pig and shouted that it was playing with them and he left.
The two original openers and the group of artists decided to have a beer and some pizza together in a bar on the square and they talked about what had happened.
Opens 69 & 70: Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th September, Budapest
A man who lives in the same square where Pig stands had been reading the sign, observing Pig and the public. He seemed uncertain for a while if he was able to take out money. At the end of one day when the Pig team were putting it away he asked a lot of questions about it. The next day two guys also from the street community read the sign and decided to spend the money on food and opened pig straight away. On Sunday, the man approached another person from the street community, (understanding that could not open it alone), he started a conversation and they decided to spend the money together on food and cigarettes. Before they opened Pig they contributed some coins to the community fund.
Open 68: Saturday 3rd September, Budapest
Two members of the street community started to open Pig and said they wanted it to buy some food. Some passers by started to comment why should they get the money and not someone else. Then another member of the public commented “What is your problem? That is the concept! They have the right to do it. Let them do it!”.
Open 67: Thursday 1st September, 14:16 Budapest
Within the first hour of Pig arriving in Budapest Pig was opened by a member of the street community. Coins inside were Euros, Swiss Francs and Australian dollars. He asked ‘ Do you know where I can change this money?’
Open 66 : Friday 13th May, 18:54 auawirleben
Three young people approach Pig and start to open it. One of them was one of the people who had opened it the day before. When they recognised Pigzine they walked away. The other two opened Pig very quickly and a man stopped to watch them.
Observer: “What are you doing there? Is this allowed? Are you sure? […] What will you use the money for?”
Opener 1: ”My brother has his birthday soon, I’m going to buy him soccer shoes.”
Observer: “For real now?”
Opener 2: “Yes, for her brother, or also for me. I also need new shoes.”
Observer: “And donate it or anything? Or for an organisation? There are better things than shoes.”
The man goes away, he seems to be questioning and shaking his head a bit.
Open 65 : Thursday 12th May, 11:15, auawirleben
Two young people are talking to each other next to Pig, they seem hesitant. They walk away.
After a few metres they stop and come back.
Opener 1:”Look, we just have to be very quick.”
Opener 2: “-“
Opener 1:”We really just have to open it here, no big job.”
Opener 2:”Okay. Yes. But hurry up really!”
They open all the butterflies very quickly. The two put all the money including coins and a massage voucher and a lottery ticket in their pockets. They close the Pig, and leave.
Almost an open : Wednesday, 4th May, auawirleben
Two people started to open Pig. After unscrewing three bolts, one of them said “This isn’t worth it.” They screwed the bolts back on.
Pig at FiraTàrrega : Our reporter’s thoughts
“My Biggest surprise/El més inesperat” by Janira (19)
On Sunday 8th there was an argument when the group of 5 boys who had repetitively taken the money from Pig were stopped by some nearby women who shouted at them. The boys got upset and left, and the community around Pig came together to do up the bolts.
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Janira (19) – El Diumenge quad eren casi la 1 del Migdia, hi ha hagut un conflicte. Un group de cinc nens han vingut a agafar diners del porc repetides vegades. Dues dones han intervingut en el quart intent dels nen per evitar que ho fessin. S’han enfadat i han assegurat que era una falta de respecte.
Open 64 : Sunday 8th September, 13:34, FiraTàrrega
The same boys returned to open it. They were stopped by some people, but sat on it until the people who stopped them had left, and then they opened it up.
Whilst they were sat on it, people asked them about it and the boys explained to the watchers how the project works.
One of the boys said “We don’t know what we are going to spend it on, so we feel it is a bit like stealing.”
Open 63 : Sunday 8th September, 13:13, FiraTàrrega
Three people opened Pig for ice-cream. The young boys who have opened Pig many times before waited until all the bolts were undone and they ran in and grabbed handfuls of change.
The original openers realised they were just left with the coins that had fallen into the ‘leg’ part. They picked them up and then dropped them when they realised it was English currency.
The people watching came together to put the bolts in.
Open 62 : Sunday 8th September, 12:48, FiraTàrrega
The boys from yesterday returned, undid the bolts, and took 5 Euros.
Almost an open : Friday 6th September, 12:30, FiraTàrrega
The boys from yesterday undid the bolts on Pig.
4 Women told them they cannot do that.
The boys left and the people of Tàrrega came together to help do the bolts up.
News Story : Friday 6th September, FiraTàrrega
Open 61 : Saturday 7th September, 19:53, FiraTàrrega
The young boys from Open 57 & 58 opened Pig again. There is not much money inside Pig.
We do not know what they wish to spend it on.
Open 60 : Saturday 7th September, 17:31, FiraTàrrega
2 teenage Boys and 1 teenage Girl opened Pig. The boys from the Openings that morning were also there.
“Why are you opening Pig?”
“We don’t know yet, we will probably just get some food with it.”
A watcher almost stopped them, the openers put the centims back into Pig and then picked them out again.
They took just 1 Euro and a few Centims.
Open 59 : Saturday 7th September, Approximately 15:30, FiraTàrrega
The reporters noticed the Pig was empty apart from a few coins. The opening was witnessed by a passer-by who said it was a group of 20 year olds.
The remaining coins were in the ‘Legs’ and the belly of Pig was empty.
Open 58 : Saturday 7th September, 11:20, FiraTàrrega
The same boys from Open 57 opened Pig. We do not know what they were taking the money for.
Open 57 : Saturday 7th September, 11:03, FiraTàrrega
3 Young boys opened Pig. We do not know what they wished to spend the money on, but they took some coins.
Open 56 : Friday 6th September, 19:03, FiraTàrrega
Two teenage boys opened Pig. They scooped roughly half the contents of Pig into a bag, including Euros, Cents, Pounds, Pennies, a Scottish £1 note, 10 Argentinian Pesos (£0.14), and a €4 Voucher for local restaurants.
Conversation translated from Catalan:
Pigzine: “What is the money for?”
Opener: “It is to give to a hospital.”
Pigzine: “Which hospital?”
Opener: “We don’t know, we will have to find one.”
Pigzine: “How much money have you taken?”
Opener: “We don’t know yet, we will have to count it when we have closed the Pig”
Pigzine: “What are you going to do with the Scottish £1 note, as it doesn’t exist as a currency anymore?”
Opener: “It will be a souvenir for us.”
The openers did not do up all of the bolts again before they left.
Almost an open: Friday 6th September, 18:34, FiraTàrrega
Two children undid half of the bolts around the edge of Pig. They said they wanted to give it to Tàrrega football club. They got shy and walked off.
Then they came back and said they were waiting for some friends to help.
Then they left again without putting the bolts back on.
Open 55 : Friday 6th September, 17:38, FiraTàrrega
Two young men with beers and mirrored sunglasses opened Pig together. They did not take off all the bolts. A few different people asked them what they were opening Pig for and a large crown formed.
Someone nearby observed they were speaking Ukranian although they live locally.
They opened Pig and took only an English 20p coin (£0.20), because one of the men is a coin collector and needed it for his collection.
Catalan: “No me interesan los euros. euros tenemos todos, verdad?”
English: “I do not care about the euros. We have all the euros, right?”
Open 54 : Friday 6th September, 16:40, FiraTàrrega
4 noies adolescents van obrir The Pig juntes. No van desenroscar tots els cargols.
Obridora 1: “Hem decidit collaborativament que ens acabem de guanyar 5 euros…”
Obridora 2: “és més fàcil desmuntar-lo que muntar-lo.”
Obridora 3: “Va, fem-nos una foto.” I es van fer un selfie.
Obridora 4: és molt xulo, m’encanta. Li podem dir al Josep que vingui i ja tindrà pagades les hores extra.
4 Teenage girls opened Pig together. They did not undo all of the bolts.
Opener 1: “We have collaboratively decided that we have just earned 5 euros …”
Opener 2: “It is easier to disassemble than to assemble”
Opener 3: “Go, let’s take a picture” They took a selfie.
Opener 4: “It’s very cool, I like it. We can tell Josep to come here and he will get paid for all the extra hours he worked. “
Open 53 : Friday 6th September, 12:45, FiraTàrrega
A group of 8 local students and their teacher opened Pig together. A large crowd formed and they were questioned what they would spend it on by the public as well as by Pigzine reporters.
They took the €20 note that had just been contributed.
Pigzine: “What will you spend the money on?”
Openers: “We want to give it back to the community of FiraTàrrega, we see a lot of nice things but we cannot give them anything. We want to take this note to a bar and split it up into 20 x €1 coins and then we can give them to the street performers that were think are talented.”
Pigzine: “If you’re just going to get it turned into change, why did you take the note and not the change inside Pig?”
Opener: “Well…. now you say that… I guess it was just quick and easy. I don’t know.”
Pigzine: “And all 9 of you agree?”
Opener: “Our friend here wants to spend it on drinks… but we won’t do that. He is not right in the head.” (Laughs)
Open 52 : Friday 6th September, 12:37, FiraTàrrega
The ‘Watcher’ from Open 51 stopped Pig from being closed by reaching in.
Although he did not undo the bolts himself, our reporters have decided it was ‘Opened’ because when he reached inside Pig, the first Openers had to lift the lid back down again.
He quickly sorted through the coins and was taking out £1 coins only. He counted them out loud.
Watcher: “What are you taking the money for?”
Opener: “I am taking the pound coins because I can spend them in England, and I will replace them with Euros because you will find it easier to spend them here.”
Pigzine reporter: “How much are you taking?”
Opener: “I’ve taken £20 and I’ve put €20 back in. I’ve put twenty back in because the exchange rate is means they’re basically the same now, because of Brexit”
The man contributed a €20 note. The lid was lifted back on and everyone present helped to do the bolts up.
(Pigzine’s research found that in 2015, the year before the UK Brexit referendum, the average exchange rate of Pounds Sterling to Euros was: 1 GBP = 1.428 EUR. Currently at the time of writing the exchange rate is 1 GBP = 1.1 EUR)
Open 51 : Friday 6th September, 12:35, FiraTàrrega
2 people opened it for their own art projects – They consider themselves to be part of the art community. People watched but no one disagreed.
Watcher: “Are you going to take all the money?”
Opener: “No.”
Watcher: “Are you going to spend it on lunch?”
Opener: “No, it’s for our own creative project. It’s our vision”
Watcher: “How much do you need?”
Opener: “We are not sure, we are not going to take it all. This is just our start, it’s something for our first step”
The 2 Openers took €10.
They want to create a project which is similar to an escape room. Their name is FlashPoint.
Open 50 : Sunday 7th July, 18:16, Kelburn Garden Party
A young boy was at Pig for a while understanding how it works and asking questions.
He asked “Can I open it?”
The Pigzine reporter said “Do you want to open it?”
“Yes”
“What for?”
“I want to give it to Strathcarron Hospice”
Some people came over to look at Pig and the mother and son asked them “Do you agree with us if we open the Pig for Strathcarron Hospice?” and they said “We don’t care we are just here looking at the Pig”.
He opened it and took £50.
The boy said “I’m not going to take it all because this is the last day at Kelburn and I want a bit left to go to someone else.”
Open 49 : Saturday 6th July, 14.35, Kelburn Garden Party
3 children and a mother opened Pig. They wanted to buy 8 ice creams for themselves and some friends they were attending the festival with.
Pigzine reporter: “What’re you going to spend the money on?”
The mother replied “Well we were thinking about what we would like to buy right now and what we can buy in the festival context. I guess outside of the festival we would try and use it for something less….. selfish.”
They opened Pig and took £20. They bought enough ice creams for themselves and to give to some festival goers too.
The kids and mothers came back to Pig to tell the reporters that they had bought even more ice creams out of their own money to give out to people. Some people were funny about accepting ice cream as a gift but some people were very happy about it.
One woman had said “You made my day. No actually… you made my festival!”
Open 48 : Saturday 6th July, 11.34, Kelburn Garden Party
3 children opened Pig. They were asked what they were opening Pig for but they could not agree. One said to buy ice cream, another said to take the exciting £1 Note, another didn’t have any ideas.
Pigzine reporter: “Have you read the sign?”
One of them said: “Not really.”
The children agreed they would just have their photo taken with the £1 note to go on Pigzine and that they didn’t want to take it. They took £10 for ice cream from Pig.
People watched but no one asked any questions.
A short while later the children told a Pigzine reporter that ice cream shop was closed, and then the Pigzine reporters did not see the children again.
Open 47 : Friday 5th July, 14:48, Kelburn Garden Party
A Pigzine reporter was in the next field over from Pig. A young girl (approx. 7) ran up to a group of children and said: “Guys there’s a Pig you’re allowed to steal from it come on let’s go and steal from it” All of the children ran into the field with Pig in it. The reporters followed. The children undid some of the bolts and a Pigzine reporter asked them ‘What are you going to do with the money?’
“I’m going to buy lollipops for everyone.”
“For who?”
“Everyone at Kelburn.”
“How many lollipops is that?”
“100…. probably.”
One of the other girls said “No not lollipops.”
The dad said “We all have to agree before we can open it. It doesn’t work if you can’t get everyone to agree – we can come back later when you’ve agreed”
The children left Pig and the mum stayed on her own to do up the bolts. 10 minutes later the children arrived and undid the bolts again. A Pigzine reporter asked ‘so what have you decided to spend it on?’ The girl in the red coat replied ‘LOLLIPOPS’. The reporter asked the girl in the yellow coat if she agreed and she said yes with a smile. The children took all of the money and put it into a coffee cup. They then put the top of the Pig back on and did up the bolts. They counted the money and then posted all the Euros and Cents back through.
The children went to the summer-field and negotiated with the lady at the sweet stall. They told her they wanted A LOT of lollipops but they didn’t want them to be the same colour. They came back with an entire jar of lollipops. They took each lollipop out and stuck a Pigzine sticker to the casing and then put them back in the jar and handed them out to festival goers.
Open 46 : Sunday 16th June, 17:06, Cork
A member of the street community came back to visit Pig for the third time. He started to open Pig. He had opened it once before on Friday 14th June and took some notes, alongside his friends. He was watching Pig for about 10 minutes before he opened it on Sunday 16th. We concluded that perhaps he knew Pig would be put away soon. The man began scooping the money out. Passers by were saying “He’s stealing it”. No one approached him to object and people watched him take all of the money in Pig. The man walked off without putting Pig’s lid on, but a volunteer went over to ask him to put it on properly. The man left, clearly in a panic and wanting to rush off. Pig was left almost empty.
Almost an open : Saturday 15th June, 16:15, Cork
A group of teenage boys were about to open Pig but changed their mind. They walked away with the nuts and bolts left on the plinth. The same boys took money out yesterday but decided not to take money today.
Open 45 : Saturday 15th June, 14:00, Cork
A couple opened Pig and took money, saying that they would take it to The Peace Park to give it to homeless people. The man said “last time I went to Peace Park in Cork, it was filled with homeless people and I think they need some money.”
Opens 41-44 : Friday 14th June, throughout the afternoon, Cork
During this day it was difficult to track every opening of Pig due to the general crowd around Pig. A few times a group had their hand in Pig and were scooping money out. We estimate four untracked opens.
Open 40 : Friday 14th June, at 18:04, Cork
Pig was opened by a group of teenagers. They said they were going to “give money to the homeless”.
Open 39 : Friday 14th June, at 17:00, Cork
A young man opened Pig for his bus money. He took £1.60 exactly.
Open 38 : Friday 14th June, at 15:15, Cork
Pig was opened to take money for charity, and was also opened for someone to take money for food at the same time.
Almost an open : Friday 14th June, at 14:57, Cork
A man (pictured, in white tracksuit bottoms) began to open Pig but stopped after someone present told him not to.
Open 37 : Friday 14th June, at 14:20, Cork
Pig was opened by a member of the street community. Two women also present told him that he “shouldn’t take the money.”
Open 36 : Friday 14th June, at 13:55, Cork
Pig was opened at 1.55pm by two friends who decided to give the money to the Irish Cancer Society who were collecting nearby. A large group gathered around. Two girls were taking Euro notes out of Pig. Pig was open for 20 minutes in total, with people chatting around it. Watch the video here.
Open 35 : Sunday 9th June, at 16:00, Carlow
Four people opened Pig. Carlow Arts Festival tweeted that this was “to give some of the money to help a homeless person.” Later that evening, the post was taken down as it was “attracting a lot of criticism about the community decision”.
You can read Carlow Arts Festival’s full statement and all about it here.
Almost an open: Wednesday 6th June, at 17:30, Carlow
At Fairgreen shopping centre our reporters observed some children who wanted to open Pig. A security guard from the shopping centre sent them away and Pig was not opened.
Open 34 : Saturday 10th November, at 12:00 midday, Dundee
Two Army Cadet poppy appeal collectors opened Pig after asking people witnessing if they approved of their decision. They placed the coins straight into their collection boxes as they were taking it out.
Open 33 : Saturday 10th November, at 11:00am, Dundee
The Dundee Sea Cadets, who support young people aged 10-18 in Dundee and teach them sailing and safety at sea have withdrawn first from Pig.
Open 32 : Sunday 30th September at 16:10pm, Marseille
Two young girls came and said they would open the Pig. A reporter asked if they’d agreed. Someone also asked them if they were going to give it to someone who needs it. One girl laughed saying she needed it. Then they started a discussion with the people around, saying they could distribute it in the street. All people agreed. They started opening the Pig altogether, and when they were finished the girls asked some of the participants if they wanted to join them for the distribution. Two people joined them.
Almost an open: Sunday 30th September, Marseille
A woman came and asked how you could open the Pig. A reporter re-explained the concept of agreement. She asked to her friend and to a man she didn’t know if they agreed she took money for a documentary film project. The man asked her about the project. She said it was about an ethnic minority in Laos and Thailand, the Hmongs, who are apparently put in ghettos and getting killed. They participated in the war on the side of the French and the Americans back in the days and she said they were the equivalent of the Harkis in France. The man thought it was a nice project and agreed. She started unscrewing the bolts but noticed it was mostly pounds. After a discussion about whether she could change them to euros, she realised it would not be possible so easily and changed her mind about taking the money because she thought she wouldn’t be able to use it.
Open 31 : Sunday 30th September at 14:21pm, Marseille
Three people (two men and a woman) approached the Pig and opened it straight away. The Pig reporters asked if they had agreed. One man said the three of them did and that they knew the goal was to spend it “with a good intent”. One reporter asked him what he thought good intent was. “For us good intent is to have a roof on our heads because we live on the street”. Once the Pig got opened they started grabbing coins by the handful and putting it in a plastic bag. People stared from the terraces and from around the Pig. One of the men taking money looked behind him and said : “What’s the matter? I asked if I could take it and was told I could so I’m taking it.” Later he shouted “we’re the only people in Marseille doing it!”
One reporter asked a woman passing by what she thought. She said she thought it was legitimate for them to take it because they live on the street but she was angry at the other people who started “taking advantage” of the opening and take money. Another woman was asked what she thought. She said : “I find it quite sad.” She thought it was nice that there were coins from all over the world and thought it would be better spent if it were given to artists at the end. She also said it would be nice to put something else inside like poems.
Open 30 : Saturday 29th September at 18:50pm, Marseille
A group of 10 people of all ages opened Pig ‘just to see if they can.’ Very little money was taken.
Open 29: Saturday 29th September at 16:45pm, Marseille
A child and father opened Pig and two young men helped. We are told that the young girl wants to use the money to spend on a toy, which was an agreement between her and her father. During the opening there were 6 other people that quickly approached Pig and took some of the money. Our reporters talked to two of these people. One of them said that he took some of the foreign coins as he was a coin collector. One of the nuts went missing in this opening.
Open 28: Friday 28th September at 17:10pm, Marseille
6 children opened Pig. 4 of the children returned from the previous day and brought two of their friends. The 4 children explained to their friends how to get the money. The girls wanted to buy toys but as group they decided to buy shoes for the youngest boy. They took 13 Euros.
Almost an open: Thursday 27th September at 13:00pm
3 children wanted to open it. They took half the bolts off but then their parents came over; It is unknown what they said but they put the bolts back on afterwards and left.
Open 27: Wednesday 26th September at 18:24pm, Marseille
2 young women opened Pig. One of them has a boyfriend in London who struggles to visit because he doesn’t have enough money. They took £15 to persuade him to come… “If we can give him his ticket in his own money, he can come and visit me”.
Someone challenged them and said that it should be fore the community, she replied “but what does that even mean?”
Open 26: Wednesday 26th September at 15:43pm, Marseille
3 people opened Pig together. They agreed they wanted to take only 1 euro and then give it to any random passer-by in Marseille. They will be letting us know who they chose and why.
Open 25: Wednesday 26th September at 12:53pm, Marseille
A local tour guide opened Pig to take the money to fix the front of a building. He decided there wasn’t enough money; so he took €5 and gave it to a man holding a beer. .
We counted all the money left in Pig from Freedom Festival, Hull . There was a total of £469.32 (GBP).
In addition to the £469.32, there was;
1/2 penny (GBP)
26 cents (USD)
50 kurus (TKY)
51 groszy (PLN)
64 ore (DKK)
20 forint (HUF)
80 euro cent (EUR)
3 beads and a screw
This money will stay inside Pig and travel to Travellings Festival in Marseille, France
Pig in Hull
Our Pigzine reporters have been reflecting on their 2 days of reporting in Hull.
This is the most donations that Pig has seen across all of the locations. The crowds surrounding Pig are big all through the day.
“It makes me happy seeing so many kids and families putting money in. And it was even nicer seeing the man who took the money out take a little bit for his nephew to give to a cancer charity” – Pigzine Reporter, Kain, 11
“Pig encouraged me to realise there’s a real sense of community in Hull. Most people really care about where the money is going and it shows the such a sense of togetherness in Hull as a whole” – Pigzine Reporter, Amelia, 14
“Pig has been a huge talking point about freedom festival. People want to discuss it, they want to get together and talk about it” – Amelia
Open 24: Sunday 2nd September at 4.46
A large family started undoing it. The father stopped and came and spoke to a Pigzine reporter.
“My kid wants to do it because… well he is 7. But I’ve actually just done the bolts up really tight so hopefully they won’t get in (laughs)”
Pigzine reporter: “Do you not want to open it?”
“No I’m not getting involved. It’s interesting though. The thing is… if a homeless man takes this money and goes to the shop, it’s completely different whether he comes out with a sandwich or with a beer. With a sandwich its a good thing, with a beer it’s not. And it’s whether you trust that. But I do believe there are genuinely people who would take this money to buy something like a sandwich”
The children and the mother open it together. When the lid came off they cheered “We did it!”.
A boys put his hand in and the mother said “No we are not taking from it. We are putting the lid back on now. You can’t take this money”
Pigzine reporter: “Why are you not taking money from it?”
“We just wanted to open it because its about more than money. I just wanted to open it to show people you can do it. It’s also about achieving something together, as a community. I’m putting it back on now so it can go to a charity or something… we just wanted to do it together”
The family put the bolts back and are joined by several other helpers. They walk around Pig several times trying to tighten the bolts as much as they possibly can.
“I feel very protective of this Pig”
Open 23: Sunday 2nd September at 4.32
A man brought his bag over and opened it up. He told security he was going to open it up; loud enough for passers by to hear.
As he was unscrewing it someone challenged him – the ‘opener’ told her he was going to give it to the minster. She said “well what does the minster need it for?” He said “It takes a lot to run it but they are saving up for a cafe”. She started to help him.
When it was open she shouted to the crowd “Does anybody else want to take from this to give to a cause?” – No one spoke.
The first opener showed a Pigzine reporter how much he had taken “It’s roughly ten pounds – I just wanted to show you could do it. I was very open about it you could see me”
The other opener: “I wanted to help but I didn’t want to take any. If there was a Freedom Fest charity bucket I would have put it all in there. But thats why I asked if anyone wanted to donate. If they had had a bucket I would have chucked the money in there but no one had anything. I asked this man what he was going to spend it on and I even challenged why the minster need it but then I decided to help him”
Video of this opening coming soon
Open 22: Sunday 2nd September at 4.11
Three children had seen the previous people opening Pig and went up to it and opened it. They undid some of the bolts and their mother said “Get off! Stop opening it. You’ve got all these people filming you”.
“They ain’t stupid. They saw them opening it and would have opened it themselves for sweets or probably chicken. But I just don’t want all these people filming my kids… You’re not going to post any videos of them opening it are you?”
They left the area with half the bolts still off Pig.
Open 21: Sunday 2nd September at 4.09
Two people opened Pig and took some handfuls of coins. They ran away and left some of the bolts off.
Open 20: Sunday 2nd September at 2.50
Three young people opened one side of Pig and filled their pockets.
Member of the crowd: “What are you going to spend it on?”
“We are homeless”
No one else challenged them.
Open 19: Sunday 2nd September at 1.30pm
Two people opened Pig, only one of them took money out.
Pigzine: “Why are you not taking any money?”
Opener: “I feel too embarrassed to put my arm in and take anything.”
The other person identified himself as the one who had bought the receipt that morning as evidence of his purchase.
Our Pigzine reporter asked “Why did you do that?”
He replied “Because they was all moaning at me. But the ones moaning haven’t understood the sign properly”
There was a crowd surrounding, and a lot of people starting shouting. Someone who had been filming told the two ‘openers’ that they were thieves, whilst a woman pulled her children away and said “You should be ashamed doing that in front of children”. The man who had been filming them physically involved himself with the ‘opener’ who had decided not to take any money, whilst videoing and also shouting, so the ‘opener’ pushed him back.
Some people in the crowd defended the ‘openers’ publicly and said “If they are in need then I don’t mind if they take that money. I mean, who are any of us to say?”
Two police officers broke up the altercation and said to the person with the camera “You have invaded his personal space. It looked like you were getting in his face and you cannot do that. That’s why he pushed you.”
Both men left very quickly, whilst the other ‘opener’ did all of the bolts back up alone whilst some children contributed some coins on the other side.
Pig is thought to have been opened 2 or 3 times but we do not have enough details yet to report.
Each time someone had opened Pig, they only undid half of the bolts and put in their arm for a couple of handfuls of coins and left.
Watchers took photos and filmed it.
Open 18: Sunday 2nd September at 10.00am
Pig was opened in the morning as soon as the covers came off. We are not sure of how much was taken.
Open 17: Saturday 1st September at 2.40pm
Someone who had previously contributed decided to open Pig to only take his contribution back out.
His reason was because when he put money in he thought it would be collected at the end to be spent by the council.
Open 16: Saturday 1st September at 2.00pm
Two people opened Pig together.
One of them wanted the money for accommodation because he had broken up with his girlfriend. A few people watching on challenged them – asking which hostels they had tried.
A man said ‘This is mad. Who is behind this? This shouldn’t be out here.’ He then went over to the community police and said ‘you should be stopping this’. He held down the top of Pig and shouted at other people to help him hold it down. Another woman screwed the bolts back in whilst he did so.
Open 15: Saturday 1st September at 1.34pm, Queens Gardens
A family saw Pig being opened. They opened it and took some of the money to go towards a charity for cancer support. 4 children helped undo the bolts and do them back up again. One of the people opening it was present lthe previous night when Pig was opened and the police stepped in.
Open 14: Saturday 1st September at 1.20pm, Queens Gardens
Two people started to open Pig and were joined by 4 other members. They all opened it together and took a couple of handfuls of the money each. There was talk of purchasing a new phone for someone’s mother.
Open 13: Saturday 1st September at 12:00pm, Queens Gardens, Hull, UK
As soon as pig was unveiled on the morning of Saturday 1st September Pig was being opened. Two people took some of the money, one said he needed it for a sleeping bag.
Open 12: Friday 31st August at 4.15pm, Queens Gardens, Hull, UK
A man opened Pig and took out money for a “telephone and food”. He said he had been living on the street for four days. He asked not to be filmed. He returned on 1st September with a receipt for a £25 telephone. Whilst he had the lid off several other people took out money.
Open 11: Friday 31st August at 2.35pm, Hull, UK
With several police officers present, two men opened Pig and took money out. An officer stepped in to ask them not to be greedy and that they had taken enough. A conversation took place between the police officers, the 2 men and other members of the public from a large crowd that had gathered.
The police issued a statement published in the Hull Daily Mail, to say that they were concerned that known drug users were accessing the money. They requested that Pig be moved from Beverly Gate to Queens Gardens.
Open 10: Friday 31st August at 12 noon, Hull, UK
A woman estimated to be in her early 20s opened one side of Pig and squeezed her arm in to take out money “for medication for her child”. She handed money to a friend to hold and to a stranger watching on.
Open 9: Friday 31st August around 9:30am, Hull, UK.
Early on Friday two men opened just a few bolts of Pig and squeezed their arm in to take out a £20 note. They walked away Shouting “we just got £20”.
Open 8: Tuesday 14th August around 9pm, Moss, Norway.
Pig had been in the very centre of the city of Moss, Norway, for 14 days. No one had announce its arrival, or its departure date. The city’s two major newspapers got very interested early, printing the fourth large article on Tuesday 14th as front page news, but they agreed not to publish that on Wednesday 15th Pig would be gone. Over the 14 days the most substantial amount of money had gathered that Pig has collected to date. Locals estimated it to be over 4K Norwegian Crowns.
At around 9pm a man opened Pig, alone. Although reports suggested that he had an accomplice on a bicycle who kept their distance. 3 children watched on.
He was filmed and Pigzine is hoping to have access to the film, which will explain all. Reports said the man wanted the money to start an organic community farm in Moss. 2 crowns were left on the ground and put back into Pig to travel to Hull for Freedom Festival at the end of August.
The city’s Mayor, The Head of City Planning, the Director of Culture all spoke about the project, reporting overhearing people chatting about it on the Bus, in the Bingo Hall, all over the city.
Open 7: Wednesday 20th June at 00:57, Oerol Festival
In he early hours of Wednesday, Pig was carried across the island by a group of 6 to 8 people.
They took Pig from coordinates 53°23’16.6″N 5°18’09.6″E and moved it 230 meters eastwards to 53°23’19.4″N 5°18’20.8″E.
There they were stopped by island security.
At 01:05 Pig was moved back by the group.
They took out the amount of €3,50 to buy Juttersbitter.
When asked by a Pigzine correspondent why they did this, they replied to say that they were moving Pig to bring it to the bar ‘De Vijfpoort’; the group expected that once it had been moved, the amount of money inside Pig would double in no-time.
Suspected opening: Tuesday 19th June
More details to follow. Rumours on the island are that the boys from the local sailing school opened it. Team Pigzine will be investigating this further.
Open 6: Monday 18th June at some time in the afternoon, Oerol Festival.
Pig was opened by fans of the band Winterdagen. This band plays ten shows at Oerol in the church of Terschelling West.
They first had guestlist tickets, but these fell through. They opened Pig and just took money to buy tickets for the Winterdagen concert.
Open 5: Saturday 16th June at 15:55, Oerol Festival, The Netherlands
Two people opened Pig and took €10 in exactly 10x €1 coins (leaving the notes). They plan to make a donation to Stichting VluchtelingenWerk, a charity organisation that supports refugees.
Open 4: Wednesday 23rd May, Norwich, UK
“We had another opening this morning.
A Big Issue seller – wasn’t sure he would have sold enough Big Issue’s this morning and needed bus fare to visit his partner who was at the hospital.
He took £12 to cover his bus fare and two coffees and left the rest.
He was helped to open it by member of Forum security and then did all the bolts back up.”
Nearly an open: Sunday 20th May, Norwich, UK
On Sunday a member of the public began opening Pig, with quite a crowd around. Two police officers arrived and began to question him, and some of the onlookers. As he was being talked with he started replacing the bolts. As he hadn’t done anything wrong he went on his way. He didn’t take any of the money. The police described him as being from the Street Community.
Open 3: Saturday 19th May, Norwich, UK
A woman and two children opened Pig in the evening on 20th May. They took what they considered to be half the money, which turned out to be £145.79.
The woman plans to share the money between Silver Road Community Centre and the Friends of Mousehold Infant and Nursery School.
SRCC plan to spend their share on a celebration of Norfolk Day. Mousehold Infant and Nursery School’s share will go towards subsidising school trips so that all families can take part, regardless of their family’s finances.
Open 2: Tuesday 15th May between 6pm and 7pm, Norwich, UK
No one who we’ve spoken to has any knowledge of who opened the Pig on this evening. We estimate there was around £30 in Pig at 6pm on 15th.
Open 1: Monday 14th May, Norwich, UK
The following is quoted from an article in the Eastern Daily Press on 17th May (Full article here):
“When Suzi Ray, whose son George Westgarth is a member of Hellesdon Lions FC Under 7s, first saw the pig and its sign she mentioned it to the football club’s fundraiser Claire Fox who investigated further whether it was okay for the club to open the money box, and the whole team then went to The Forum to collect the funds on Monday night.
“We collected £229.86 as well as some Japanese money and some Euros. The money will help pay for a much-needed training kit and to help to pay for coaching,” said Mrs Fox, whose son Benji Fox is part of the team.
“We did leave some money for other good causes and charities too. We want to say a massive thank you to the people of Norwich because without them donating the money we would not be able to have the new training kits and pay for the training.
“We are really, really happy. We had been working really hard to replace the training kit and we had also raised £96 recently at a car boot sale.”
Mrs Fox has been running the team with Jackie Parker since January while the club searched for a new manager. The team has now appointed Kai Boyle as the new team manager and trainer, meanwhile David Coyle is the current coach.”
Nearly an open: Sunday 13th May, Norwich, UK
A group of young people, described as Italian Students, attempted to open Pig, but were asked not to by security staff who were alerted to the attempted open by a nearby shopkeeper.
If you have a story to tell us about what you spent the money on let us know in our media uploader, you can include images, videos, and text. We’d love to hear from you.
Open 67 : Thursday 1st September, 14:16 Budapest
Within the first hour of arriving in Budapest, Pig was opened by a member of the street community. Coins inside were Euros, Swiss Francs and Australian dollars. He asked ‘ Do you know where I can change this money?’