Charity auction raises £60,819

MORE than £60,000 was raised during the charity auction for the Jersey Christmas Appeal.

Bidding opened online for the 200 lots last month, and about £40,000 had already been pledged before the phone lines opened on Sunday.

During the live auction on Channel 103, which was hosted by Fiona Walker and breakfast show presenter Peter Mac, Islanders bid for a range of lots, including personal training sessions and gym membership, food and drink hampers and tours of the Royal Court and air traffic control centre.

One of the star lots – a trip to the Monaco Grand Prix – went for £6,575, while a weekend at the Minquiers fetched £1,250. Another lot which attracted much interest was a pair of tickets for the Wimbledon ladies final, which went for £5,500.

Islanders also had the opportunity to ‘pledge a wedge’ in order to have a chance of winning an exotic holiday. Every £10 pledge secured one entry to the draw, with the value of the trip increasing all the time and ending up as a holiday to Toronto and Manhattan.

A total of £60,819 was raised by the auction.

The Jersey Christmas Appeal was started by the Jersey Evening Post in 1897. It was originally known as the Christmas Dinner Fund and in its first year raised £26 18s 9d.

In 2018, the Charity Auction raised just over £50,000, plus another £10,000 from the ‘pledge a wedge’ initiative and £10,000 from a private donor to make an overall total of £70,293.