Wimbledon tickets and a clutch bag belonging to Oscar-winner Olivia Colman were just some of the items that went under the hammer to boost funds for the Stars Appeal. 

A charity auction hosted and organised by Lord and Lady Pembroke with auctioneers Woolley and Wallis at Wilton House on Friday (July 1) raised more than£110,000 for the Stars Appeal, Salisbury District Hospital’s Charity.

Guests were welcomed with a champagne reception in the Wilton House Cloisters followed by speeches from Lord Pembroke detailing his reasons for being the charity’s president, a presentation about the work of the charity by Dave Cates and a moving speech from 12-year-old Florence Burgess who spoke about her treatment for a rare form of leukaemia and how the hospital, its staff and the charity had helped her.

Woolley and Wallis chairman, John Axford, took to the stage to sell seven lots including Wimbledon tickets for £1,800; a Stephen Pettifer bronze sculpture for £6,500; a Banksy copy of Paris Hilton’s CD for £5,000 and a Prada clutch bag belonging to Olivia Colman for £1,200. 

Prior to the live auction, bidders kicked of fundraising efforts in the online auction which started the evening’s total with more than £23,000.

Many guests made personal donations and towards the end of the evening a pledge was made by an anonymous donor to match the total raised, meaning the grand total stands at more than £110,000.

Lord Pembroke said: “I am completely overwhelmed by the success of the evening, which far exceeded even my highest hopes. None of this could have been archived without the tremendous support so generously offered by John Axford and his team at Woolley and Wallis, and of course all our benefactors who made the evening possible.”

Funds raised at the auction will support a wide range of Stars Appeal projects benefitting thousands of local patients, their families and the NHS staff who care for them.

These include helping children and babies in hospital and offering accommodation to their parents, programmes of support for cancer patients, state-of-the-art monitoring equipment and the provision of free Wi-Fi.

Dave Cates, of the Stars Appeal, added: “We are hugely grateful to Lord and Lady Pembroke for their brilliant support in hosting this wonderful auction and to everyone who supported the event so generously.

"The huge sum raised will enable us to fund life-changing work helping thousands of local people at Salisbury District Hospital.

"To have both this event and our Walk for Wards taking place at Wilton House on the same weekend is quite incredible and we are humbled by this magnificent show of support for our Hospital and its charity.”

Walk for Wards, which took place on Sunday, July 3, saw around 1,700 people step up to take on the challenge. An estimated £90,000 was raised.

John Axford, the chairman of Woolley and Wallis, said: “It was a real honour for Woolley and Wallis to be involved in an event like this and I’m delighted that it has produced such an incredible result for a charity as important as Stars Appeal.”

The two events combined are expected to have raised more than £200,000 for the Stars Appeal.

To find out more about the charity visit the Stars Appeal website. 

 

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