AN artist who donated 30 paintings to Leigh Infirmary is demanding answers from hospital bosses after some of his paintings were found dumped in a skip.

Max Ayres, from Coronation Drive, Leigh, is livid that four of his paintings were dumped -- and another 16 have gone missing from the hospital.

Max, who specialises in local buildings and landmarks, had donated a collection of paintings of the former Atherleigh Hospital which he put on canvas between 1987 and 1989.

He said during hospital refurbishment last year some were dumped. A friend of his managed to salvage four of them from the rubbish skip and returned them.

Now Max wants to know where the rest of his paintings have gone -- and is demanding the return of his remaining works.

He said: "I felt disgusted when I found out that my paintings had been thrown in a skip. I had to ring Leigh Infirmary to find out what was going on. It's been seven months now and they still haven't found all the paintings.

"The ones of Atherleigh Hospital are important -- a visual record of the last workhouse in the area. But people will miss out forever because these paintings have been lost.

"I loan out my works free of charge and I've never had this happen before.

"I definitely won't be donating any more paintings to Leigh Infirmary."

Andy Sylvester, Acting Director of Corporate Services for the 5 Boroughs Partnership, who were responsible for storing Mr Ayre's paintings, said: "When the wards were being refurbished, we made arrangements to have all the fixtures and fittings put into storage, including Mr Ayre's paintings.

"We believe that three of his paintings went missing while most of the others went into storage. Once we had finished the refurbishment of one ward, a lot of Mr Ayre's paintings went back in the ward.

"The other ward is still to be refurbished and we believe that some more of his paintings are in storage and can be accounted for. We are sorry if we've caused him any distress."