We held our 10th Post Christmas Auction on Wednesday 5th February at the Grey Horse and what a cracking auction it was !!!
We were happy to welcome along members of Huddersfield, Barnsley and Leeds MAG branches, together with our auction regulars, from Wakefield and further afield.
As per usual, we had an immense amount of stuff donated to the auction, with the obvious unwanted Christmas presents (ladies smellies galore), garage / shed / loft / cupboard / wardrobe clearouts, and other assorted 'junk' (but it's certainly true that one person's junk is another person's treasure).
There was lots of bike related gear donated, with lots of opportunities to kit yourself out with a complete full range of riding gear (we had more helmets than a bike shop). We also had a number of hugely generous donations from local dealers and traders (see list below). Some of the more unusual items this year was a portaloo (unused thankfully), fishing pole, a childs bicycle and a top hat.
The auction started around 8:20pm and we finally called it a day around 11:00pm, with only a short 10 minute break in-between. There was particularly frenzied and competitive bidding for a good number of items, with many fetching good sums. Others went for ridiculously low prices, which obviously gave the winning bidder a fantastic bargain.
Our auctioneers Chas & Martin did a most splendid job, as they both have done for several years on the trot now. It's certainly not easy auctioneering solidly at a tremendous pace for well over an hour and a half each.
We managed to clear virtually everything. Lorna volunteered to sell a ladies helmet on a Facebook page and the rest we donated to the Wakefield Hospice.
Everyone who attended thoroughly enjoyed themselves and most folks got multiple bargains.
And the overall result .... the auction raised £377, whilst the raffle raised £42, taking the evenings total to £419 (a mere six pounds less than last year's auction & raffle raised !!). We have since voted to round this amount up from funds by £31, giving a grand total of £450 (same as last year), which splits rather nicely into 3, meaning the MAG fighting fund receiving £300 (2/3 of the proceeds), with the remaining 1/3 going to charitable causes as we advertised, and which guarantees the continued goodwill of the non-biking attendees.
A special thanks has to go to Sharon Scott & Cath Parker who kept track of all the bids all evening with the tallying skills of a seasoned accountant (turf, not financial ;-) ... Seriously though, splendid effort ladies !!!
Particular thanks have to go out to the following local dealers and traders for their most generous donations:
They are all heroes for supporting MAG and thoroughly deserve your business.
See you at our 11th Post Christmas Auction in January next year !!