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2024 marks the 150th Anniversary of Stags and in celebration of this, we are fundraising throughout the 22 offices and departments all year for four amazing cancer charities. The four charities are located within the South West and are Ducks & Drakes in Dorset, SURE in Somerset, FORCE in Devon and Tanya’s Courage Trust in Cornwall who all support cancer patients and their families throughout their treatment.
The Agricultural Sales Department, held a one-off Online Charity Timed Auction which ran from the 6th June to the 16th June 2024. Our aim was to gain as many donations as possible, in order to raise as much money as we are able for these wonderful charities.
Letters and emails were sent by the team to many businesses and individuals over the course of a few weeks, with the response being very positive and generous. In total we received a total of 67 donations and the sale went live on the 6th June which coincided with our regular online timed auction, with this auction closing just before the start of the main online auction on the 16th June.
Normally, online timed auctions see a small amount of bidding taking place in the early days, with the last few days receiving more activity. However, with this charity auction, bidding was incredibly active from the off. This particular auction received a total of 10,550 views with 204 registered bidders, 46 of which were successful and came from Wiltshire, Cornwall, Somerset and Devon.
Some of the top lots, which appeared to be dominated by the shooting community, included 1 days shooting at Radworthy Sporting, kindly donated by Gareth Clark of Radworthy Sporting Ltd which achieved a healthy sum of £1,700 and was purchased by a Mr Reed from Devon. Another days shooting at a private shoot in Yarcombe, which was kindly donated by Andrew Luxton and purchased by Mr Williams again from Devon reached £900 followed by a clay shooting masterclass for four people at the Royal Berkshire Shooting Ground, kindly donated by David Sexon, Simon Ward and The Royal Berkshire Shooting School achieved £800.
Next was a full mouth Suffolk Ram kindly donated by the Pile family of Honiton and purchased for a total of £240 by Mr Pengelley again of Devon. Harpers Feeds were generous enough to offer two lots for the charity auction, one being 500kg of sheep feed which achieved £200, purchased by Mr Price of Devon as well as another 500kg of beef finisher nuts again reaching £200 and purchased by Mr Farenden also from Devon.
Moving away from agricultural based lots, the Bluebird Penthouse in High Bickington, Devon kindly donated 1 nights stay in their retro caravan situated in the rolling hills of the Devon countryside (which also has a hot tub within a vintage Land Rover!) and was purchased for £190 by Mr Harris of Cornwall. Mr Cann of Yelverton donated his sheep shearing services for up to 100 sheep and the successful bidder of this was Mr Legassick of Devon. 2 grandstand, seated tickets for Exeter Chiefs Rugby, were generously donated by Lee Flay of Pennymoor and Mr Geen of Devon was the successful purchaser at £170 and will enjoy a day out at the rugby at a Premiership game in the 2024/25 season.
There were several options available for those who like to eat out including a donation from Paul Darch of The Jack Russell in Swimbridge who generously offered 4 main meals, 2 sides, 2 desserts and a bottle of wine which was purchased by Mr Ashelford of Devon. West Country Guns of Wivelsicombe gave a ladies or gents Schoffel fleece gilet which achieved £150 purchased by Mr Clark of Devon followed by a 4-ball golf voucher donated by Trethorne Hotel & Golf Club, purchased by an anonymous buyer for £130.
There were several other lots offered by many other individuals and businesses ranging from dumpy bags of fire wood, animal health hamper, picnic hamper for 6 people, sheep drench, a photography session, cross country schooling and vouchers for several local attractions. Which helped to contribute to raising as many funds as possible for the four charities.
All in all, the grand total of monies raised was £7610.00. This is an impressive figure and one that the Agricultural Sales Team are incredibly proud of. Once again a heartfelt thanks to all who donated and all who purchased each item without this sale. Without the generosity from everyone this figure would not have been possible.
As previously mentioned, Stags will be raising funds throughout the year, with a large variety of group and individual activities taking place. 7 colleagues are currently partaking in the ‘Tour De Stags’ where they will be cycling to each of the 22 offices throughout the South West over the course of 4 days (roughly just over 100 miles a day).
Please do keep an eye on our social media pages both Stags and Stags Agriculture for regular updates on the activities taking place and if you would like to donate and show your support, please do so by following this link - https://www.gofundme.com/f/stags-charity-fundraising-for-cancer. The grand total is currently at excess of £40,000 which is just shy of £10,000 of our target, we would absolutely love to achieve over the £50,000 mark and would be grateful of any donation you could spare.
If you have any questions or queries about the fundraising or selling any items using our auctions, please do get in touch with us on 01769 572042 or email us at auctions@stags.co.uk.
