Pulling strings for charity
A TRAINING violin fetched nearly £300 for a local charity when its owners auctioned the instrument as part of a popular antiques TV show. Kathy Burgoyne from New Greens in St Albans took the family heirloom of more than 100 years along to BBC 2 s Flog It
A TRAINING violin fetched nearly £300 for a local charity when its owners auctioned the instrument as part of a popular antiques TV show.
Kathy Burgoyne from New Greens in St Albans took the family heirloom of more than 100 years along to BBC 2's Flog It Valuation Day at the Town Hall in January and it was chosen to go forward for auction.
Presenter Paul Martin, who owned an antiques shop before his TV career took off, valued the item at around £300 to £400.
He thought the violin, which was inherited by Kathy's husband Paul, was something a bit different and a nice piece of workmanship, even though it was not particularly rare to come across such an instrument.
Nerve-wracking
It is called a training violin because it just has the strings and doesn't have a box inside so it is not as loud.
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Paul and Kathy, who have two sons and a daughter in their 20s, then went on to make £280 at the auction day in Tring, which they found to be a quite a nerve-wracking experience.
But instead of pocketing the cash themselves, the generous couple have donated all of the proceeds to Grove House where Kathy has worked as a volunteer for the last 18 years.
The show featuring the violin is expected to be aired in the autumn as part of the seventh series of Flog It, which regularly attracts an audience of two million viewers each weekday.
