Antiques raise £35,000 for hospice

The clock marked the opening of the railway line to Aberystwyth

Antiques from a country house have raised £35,000 at auction to support a hospice serving patients from mid Wales.

Rare mirrors, cabinets, fans and clocks from Linley Hall at Bishops Castle in Powys raised the most money at the sale which sold artefacts from the attics of 20 country homes across mid Wales and Shropshire.

It raised £120,000, with £10,000 of the proceeds going to the Shropshire and Mid Wales Hospice.

Among other items sold was a Victorian clock which fetched £900 and was originally presented to the man who built Barry docks - entrepreneur David Davies of Llandinam - by his gangers to mark the opening of the railway line to Aberystwyth in 1857.

It was an original way of fund-raising for the hospice Peter Paulson, hospice chairman

The hospice needs to raise £2.5m annually to keep going.

Auctioneer Richard Allen of Halls Fine Art, who conducted the auction, said that bids from Germany, Switzerland, America and across the UK were received at the sale.

Louis XV style

"The event captured the imagination of the public with more than 900 people visiting the salesroom for viewing in the days before the auction," said Mr Allen.

Among the items sold from Linley Hall were three pairs of walnut and tulipwood bedside cabinets in Louis XV style which sold for a combined price of £9,000.

A Louis XV gilt bronze mounted clock raised £8,000.

The Shrewsbury hospice cares for people with progressive illnesses across a broad age range and has a day unit at Newtown.

Opened in 1989, the hospice cared for more than 900 new patients last year.

Hospice chairman Peter Paulson said: " I thought it was a marvellous evening and most of the lots exceeded their estimates".