Wilton House auction raises over £110,000 for Stars Appeal
Olivia Colman's Oscars handbag was one item on sale
An auction held at Wilton House and online has fetched over £110,000 for Salisbury District Hospital's Stars Appeal charity.
It was hosted by Lord and Lady Pembroke with auctioneers Woolley and Wallis holding the auction.
During the evening, 12 year old Florence Burgess held a presentation, talking about her treatment for a rare form of leukaemia and how the hospital, its staff and the charity had helped her.
Many high value items were up for sale, including the Prada clutch bag taken to the Oscars by Olivia Colman.
That item went for £1,200.
Meanwhile, other things that were sold include:
- Wimbledon tickets for £1,800
- A Stephen Pettifer bronze sculpture for £6,500
- A Banksy copy of Paris Hilton’s CD for £5,000
The live auction was preceded by an online auction which kicked off the evening’s total with over £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 over £110,000.
Lord Pembroke, who is President of the Stars Appeal, 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 None of this could have been archived without the tremendous support so generously offered by John Axford and his team at Woolley and Wallis, and of course all our benefactors who made the evening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 which 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 said:
“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.”