Charity Auction is Huge Success
20th May 2019
Over £60,000 has been raised by a Salisbury-based charity at a fundraising event at Kensington Palace, assisted by the city’s firm of fine art auctioneers, Woolley and Wallis.
Deputy Chairman, John Axford, was the auctioneer at the biennial Flower Power Dinner hosted by Plantlife, the national charity saving and celebrating wild flowers across the UK and internationally.
The evening’s auction comprised eight lots, including a private tour of Haddon Hall, private hire of the Philip Mould Gallery in Pall Mall (Mr Mould OBE is the charity’s President and was present at the event), and a three-day salmon fishing trip on the Glenmazeran Estate near Inverness from the Rt Hon Richard Benyon MP, another of the charity’s trustees also present at the dinner. The auction alone totalled £32,800, with the top price being £9,500 for a commission of a portrait in oils by the artist Daisy Sims Hilditch.
With a silent auction also realising over £22,000 and donations still coming in from private supporters of the charity and the event, the fundraising total is expected to top £60,000.
The event is a regular feature for the charity, whose premises are in Milford Street, but it is the first time that Woolley and Wallis have been asked to provide an auctioneer. Acting Chief Executive Mr Michael Krause is delighted that the local firm were able to help out. “Many of our fundraising committee are London-based and so it has been natural for them to gravitate to the London salerooms when it came to finding an auctioneer, but we know that Woolley and Wallis have an international reputation and so it was great to able to showcase that Salisbury expertise.”
The event at Kensington Palace attracted some 230 guests from all walks of life, keen to support a charity which boasts HRH The Prince of Wales as its patron, and this year celebrates its 30th anniversary. Auctioneer, John Axford, says he was honoured to be asked to take part: “Our auctioneers are pleased to support a number of different charity auctions over the course of each year, from local schools and churches to huge events such as this one. It was an exciting evening with a very responsive and generous crowd in attendance and I’m so pleased that such an incredible amount was able to be raised.”
For more information on Plantlife, please visit their website here.
