We held our 5th Post Christmas Auction on Wednesday 28th January at the Grey Horse and what an auction it truly was. We had a packed venue and were particularly pleased to welcome along members of Leeds, York & Barnsley MAG branches, together with our National Chair, Jane Chisholm, the regulars of the Grey Horse (who had been looking forward to the event ever since the last one in January 2008), and lots and lots of others from the Wakefield area and beyond.
The sheer volume of items donated this year, and the quality, was absolutely unbelievable. For biking gear, you could have completely kitted yourself out with gloves, boots, trousers (leather and textile), jackets (again, leather and textile), lids (full face and open face) and a whole host of water proofs. Lots of other bike related items (spares and accessories) together with household goods (kitchen ware, lighting, pictures, ornaments, electricals and bathroom accessories), smellies, beauty products, chocolates, beer, clothing, books, CD's, DVD's, video's, exercise gear (including a full size treadmill and free weights), car accessories, cuddly toys, and the list just goes on and on and on.
Wakefield MAG members Eddie Johnson & Daz Pearson would have made Flt Lt Hendley proud (the scrounger in the Great Escape) by obtaining hugely genorous donations from local dealers and traders (see list below).
The auction started just after 8pm and lasted well over three hours with no breaks. There was particularly frenzied and competitive bidding for a good number of items, including a very large ornamental gargoyle which went for an unbelievable £22 in the end !!!!
Toby was in a competitive bid for a life size cuddly toy dog, until he realised he was bidding against a young boy who had his heart set on it, so did the decent thing and threw in the towel (but not before it had reached a most impressive double figures amount).
We managed to clear virtually the lot, with the remaining unwanted items being donated to the local Wakefield Hospice Charity shop.
A huge thanks to our auctioneers (Ian, Daz, Chaz & Martin), who all did a most sterling job and are all truly wasted in their day jobs, and could make a fortune as market traders and barrow boys !!!!
The auction this year raised nearly £450, which, bearing in mind the bidding on a lot of items started at 50p, is a staggering and truly impressive result !!!! Even more impressive is that this amount is more than £100 better than our previous best of £330, not bad considering the world is in a global recession !!!
We advertised a split of the proceeds of 2/3 to MAG and 1/3 to a charitable cause so the MAG fighting fund will be healthier to the tune of £300 !!!!.
Particular thanks have to go out to the following local dealers and traders for their most generous donations:
They are all heroes and thoroughly deserve your business.
We will be holding another Post Christmas Auction in January next year so, hope to see you there.