The UFO, supporters of The Other Room, hosted a special "People Painting" during The City Wakes events: a blank canvas available for visitors to "offer their love and creativity to Syd Barrett", of whom The City Wakes was commemorating. Everyone had the opportunity to express themselves.

The Result: Group creations that nobody could predict. Participation was essential. Just like a happening which includes the audience, the People Paintings are a pleasant artifact left by the people who were there, part of a fantastic event. In Roger Keith 'Syd' Barrett’s spirit, seven paintings were produced, each one an artistic thumbprint impression of each of The City Wakes events. Each painting is totally original and includes a certificate of authenticity, along with the signatures of each of the artists who participated in their creation.

The UFO is auctioning the paintings that were created during The City Wakes on eBay to raise more funds for The Syd Barrett Trust. UPDATE, Dec 31st: The paintings were relisted early this morning, and the auctions are now live, with a finish date of January 10th. More details below...

Available to pre-order now is a new, limited edition package of the much-loved "Pink Floyd 1966/1967" recordings, which features a pair of early studio recordings by the band, headed at that time by Syd Barrett.

Recorded (and caught on film - see details of the DVD here) by Peter Whitehead for his "Tonite Let's All Make Love In London", the tracks are a 17 minute Interstellar Overdrive, and the nearly 12 minute Nick's Boogie.

This new edition consists a heavyweight vinyl and CD set, packaged in a special gatefold sleeve, and is available exclusively from Snapper's website. And, thanks to our friends at Snapper, we've got three of these sets, along with three of the DVDs, to give away in a special Christmas Brain Damage competition!

Newly launched is a wonderful official website for founding member of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett. It is a celebration of his life and work, covering not just his music, but with a strong focus on his major passion which spanned his whole life - art.

The site includes a news section, a biography, discography, and a webstore which features some newly created t-shirts that are bound to be extremely popular.

The main attraction of the site for many though is the gallery, split into Syd's artworks, and photos of Syd. The former displays some seventeen fascinating images, some only seen at the recent exhibition as part of The City Wakes, and the latter has twelve pictures of Syd on his own, and with the rest of the Floyd. Great stuff, and they promise more to come!

So, don't delay, visit www.SydBarrett.com now...

The London-based registered charity Youth Music Theatre are holding their annual Christmas fundraiser. Nick Mason is a long-standing supporter of YMT, and he has donated a signed copy of the Pink Floyd studio album box set "Oh By The Way", to auction off via their website.

People are able to participate in the online auction until midday on December 23rd. More details of the charity, and how to bid, can be found at www.ymtuk.org/auction08. Not only is it a fantastic item but all money raised goes to a great cause. Good luck to all bidders...

Last year he donated a signed box set to YMT, which raised £500, and he also donated a tour of his classic car collection along with a signed book, which raised a further £450 for the charity.