ONE of the country’s leading antique experts is joining forces with an award winning hospice to launch an exciting new venture, believed to be one of the first of its kind.
Renowned auctioneer and television personality Peter Robinson is supporting a new antiques outlet in the St Teresa’s Hospice chain of charity shops, which has just opened its doors.
Peter, who owns and runs the Thomas Watson auction house in the town’s Northumberland Road, has established an enviable reputation as an antiques expert and is familiar to many through his regular appearances on the BBC’s Bargain Hunt.
A long-standing supporter of St Teresa’s, his loyalty to the hospice deepened when first his father and then his sister were in its care.
“They were looked after so caringly and when I heard the hospice was opening a new shop featuring antiques I was delighted to lend my support,” he said.
Peter had already established a working relationship with the hospice’s retail section donating many items from his salerooms, which were bought by his grandfather in 1950.
The new hospice shop is located on the ground floor of the Cornmill Shopping Centre providing a host of antiques and a number of high quality restored and hand painted pieces of furniture given a new lease of life by the charity’s restoration team.
On the shop floor so far is a William IV cane crib, similar to the one in which Princess Diana slept as a baby in Althorp House.
There is also a child’s perambulator believed to be from Edwardian times, grandfather clocks, popular Staffordshire Pottery, oak dining chairs, tea sets, luggage and lamps.
Head of retail at the hospice Marjorie McIntyre said: “This is a really exciting venture. Although there are a number of charity shops in the town this will be the first dedicated to antiques and restored items.
“It ticks all the sustainability boxes as well as providing a valuable outlet for customers and has been made possible by our popular house clearing service which provides excellent quality stock which is then valued by experts.
“We are hugely grateful to Peter for his continuing support for this venture and promise a warm welcome to all those customers who will be helping to bring in much needed funds for this award winning hospice.”