Items under the hammer for Wirral Autistic Society (From Wirral Globe)

Items under the hammer for Wirral Autistic Society

1:47pm Monday 4th March 2013 in News By Craig Manning

A CHARITY auction in aid of Wirral Autistic Society’s Lifetime Appeal will be held next week.

TV auctioneer John Crane will be in charge of proceedings at the Queen's Royal Hotel, New Brighton on Friday, March 15.

All cash raised will go towards the organisation's recently launched Lifetime Appeal, which aims to renovate residential facilities at Raby Hall.

Among the Items under the hammer are a booze-up in a brewery, a walk-on part in a musical play at Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre.

Also up for auction will be a antique grandfather clock and a holiday in a luxury Turkish resort.

The evening auction will feature live entertainment from Jimmy Rae and John Jones.

John Crane, from Heswall, runs Cato Crane Auctioneers in Liverpool and fellow auctioneers from Kinglsey Auctions, Hoylake and the Wirral Auction Centre, Birkenhead.

He has also appeared on television auction shows with David Dickinson and will be available from 5.30pm to give free valuations on any items of interest.

Launched last month, The Lifetime Appeal is Wirral Autistic Society biggest fundraising campaign in the charity's 45-year history.

It has received its first major private donation of £7,500 from owner of the Queen's, Mike Rice.

Looking forward to next week’s auction, Mr Rice said: "We have lined up some really interesting items to auction and we expect the free valuations to be very popular.

"It should be a great fun night with food, including our ever-popular scouse, available and entertainment going on after the auction."

The first phase of the appeal will see the society's original home, Raby Hall, completely redeveloped at a cost of £755k to provide state of the art self-contained accommodation for eight people suffering from autism.

The appeal was launched at Eaton Park, the home of the society's President, the Duke of Westminster this week and hosted by Vice-President Dame Lorna Muirhead, Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside.

At the time of its launch earlier this month, Wirral Autistic Society fundraiser Rick Myers, said: "Good quality residential accommodation designed specifically for those with autism is in very short supply.

"There are only 3,000 places available throughout the UK to provide for half a million sufferers.

"In 2010 we opened The Ferns, a six-bedroom respite centre, at a cost of £1.3m raised entirely though charitable giving.

"We now have a far greater task ahead but already we have planned a range of fund-raising activities.

"The people of Wirral have been magnificent in supporting us in the past and I'm sure they will continue to do so in the future.

"We want to build something that will not only improve the quality of life for those with autism – we want to build something that we can leave for future generations."

Entry to next week's auction is free of charge, with all proceeds from the auction going direct to the charity.

Further information on the Lifetime Appeal and ways of helping to raise funds for it are available on www.wirral.autistic.org or 0151 643 5540.