Auction update & your chance still to buy!

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Great pledges still to buy including ATP Masters Ticket, works of art and Christmas Elves

A really great Saturday night was had by all at the club auction which was both great fun and great fundraising. For those that braved the wind and rain it was glass of bubbly on arrival and the chance to put down bids on the near 50 lots in the silent auction. The atmosphere building, there was plenty of chat and comparing of notes on the live auction lots, all accompanied by great some food and drink from Chanya and Amy.

Dusting down his auctioneering patter and what quickly proved to be a not-so-trusty gavel (retired and replaced by the bar bell), Matthew Nimmo got the live auction underway at just gone nine, with team Almond behind him keeping a careful note winning bidders and bids. Plenty of fun this year with a visual on the club TV for each lot, in some cases bearing a clear relation to what was on offer and in others the relation was tenuous at best!

With one of the two hot tub offers sold as an early lot, the nods and hand-raises were warming up too. There was a great variety on offer from some fab weeks and weekends in members’ holiday homes, to sports and theatre tickets, helping hands on gardening and diy, guided walks and cycle rides, being cooked for at home and a cake every month for a year… the list goes on.

For those who couldn’t make it there is still some great stuff to purchase – bids to Linda Almond – almondall@aol.com by this Friday pm:

  • Lot 10 – use of tennis ball machine ( £35 reserve)
  • Lot 14 – rowing machine (£40 reserve)
  • Lot 28 – Mini Kim junior haircut
  • Lot 29 – Paul Coldwell print (£300 reserve)
  • Lot 30 – Jealous screen print (£30 reserve)
  • Lot 32 – Rugby World Cup shirt
  • Lot 34a – Photo frame

ATP Masters Final Ticket – Wednesday 18th November at 6.00pm, seats are Block 116 Row R  – value £75 – second half of the draw so will be 2 of Ferrer, Murray, Nadal, Warwinka plus the doubles of course. Contact Liz Berryman if interested – lizzieberryman@gmail.com

And three new late entries in time for Christmas:

  • Holiday Elf: Have your garden watered whilst you’re away and then come home to a , bottle of Prosecco and a prepared brunch or supper.
  • Christmas Elf: Have your very own helper for wrapping this year’s Christmas presents. Michelle will come to your place, mince pies and Prosecco in hand and will help you to wrap your Christmas presents. She’ll also make and provide table decorations for Christmas Day.

After a fun and laughter-filled couple of hours, helped merrily on its way by the inimitable Mr Nimmo who was on fine form, the last was sold and it was time to check the scores on the doors. Team Almond emerged from their paperwork to report to much applause that we had raised close to £8.5k!

A very big THANK YOU to all those members who supported the auction in whatever way, offering a lot, bidding online, helping to organise, or coming along bidding and being part of the night.

Finally, a massive thank you from everyone at the club to Linda Almond who has been an absolute legend, putting in a huge amount of time and energy in phone calls and emails over the last couple of months to get together all the bids and make the whole thing happen.

So we’ve made some great progress towards our target of raising £17k by the AGM but some way to go. If you haven’t had the chance to donate, you can make a one-off online payment through justgiving or alternatively set up a monthly direct debit which is a great little-and-often ongoing way of supporting the club that quite a few members now do. All the details are on the website and in the clubhouse, it only takes a few minutes and every little helps, so please do continue to support the club as you are able.

Cheers!

Richard Tusting

Miki Lentin

(Highgate GC & TC)