EPB-E01-S2 16 www.thisisbristol.co.uk Saturday, August 7, 2010 A SKILL YOU Photograph: Dan Regan HollisMorgan_210710DR002 CAN’T PUT A PRICE ON E once auctioned the chance to wash JOHN HUDSON talks to charity H Wendy the elephant at Bristol Zoo, and an auctioneer Andrew Morgan as invitation to sit on the he pledges to do more work throne of a Pope in Rome. Andrew Morgan earns his living selling property in and for good causes around Bristol, but for decades he has been in demand for into this side of what we are charity auctions –and now he doing, and we see it as our plans to take this honorary contribution to society. sideline a step further. “We can’t afford to give Aged 64 and after more than money away, but we can 40 years in the business, he certainly use our skills to help has gone into partnership with the community.” a colleague near the beginning Wendy the elephant was of his career, Ollie Hollis, to always a great favourite at set up a new estate agency in Bristol Zoo, and when it Waterloo Street, Clifton. became known that she loved It’s a serious enterprise – to be hosed down, it seemed a but alongside it, he plans to good idea to allow people to do devote more of his time to the job –at a fee. helping charities in their “There was brisk bidding Gift of the gavel: Seasoned auctioneer Andrew Morgan is offering his services to more charities fundraising, with advice about for it, but one man went the auctions and other means of extra mile as his wife was pulling in the punters. called Wendy, ”Andrew recalls. And it’s a service he’s One of his most memorable offering free of charge, even if charity auctions was in Italy. he ends up at the event He and his wife Elisabeth got wielding his gavel and raising Partnership: Ollie Hollis to know the then recently maybe tens of thousands of retired Archbishop of pounds for the good cause. are happy and the lots on offer Canterbury, George Carey, Apart from his charity make top dollar. after he had bought a house in auctioneering, Andrew has “People love an auction at Clifton, and they were invited been central in helping All fundraising evenings,” he to join him on a trip to the Saints Arts get off the ground says. Anglican church in Rome. at the church he attends, All “But you do need quite a bit “There was a charity event Saints in Pembroke Road, of know-how to make them go at the British ambassador’s Clifton. well. The first thing is to give house organised by the Saturday, July 24, saw an the guests a good time, get diplomats’wives in aid of Opera Picnic in the church’s them well oiled but still Alzheimer’s charities over gardens, featuring four singers waiting for their dinner. there, and I found myself from Welsh National Opera. “A fter that it’s a case of running the auction,” he says. An upstairs room at his persuading, cajoling, making “Needless to say, there were Waterloo Street office is where them laugh –and encouraging some fabulous prizes. the All Saints organisers meet a state of healthy competition “The rare opportunity to sit –and he hopes it will become a among the men, so that on an ancient papal throne gathering place for all who are suddenly it seems terribly was the most unusual, but looking to swell their funds important to them to land that there was also a flight over the through charitable events. weekend for two in Paris. mountains and a visit to some Sold: Mr Morgan, left, and Young Bristol chairman Andrew Nisbet with the limited edition Banksy There is also space for local “You’ve got to keep it all great aristocratic home.” bought for £15,000 by Alan and Pamela Lewis, both right artists to display their work. snappy and zipping along –an St Peter’s Hospice, Andrew says it takes skill to hour long, 50 lots or so, that’s Macmillan Cancer Support Naked Gardeners, Ian and trustees of St Mary Redcliffe “It was at a dinner party conduct a charity auction in a the absolute maximum. and the suddenly ubiquitous Barbara Pollard, was a Vestry early in 2007 when they where I was playing the butler way that ensures the guests “Ollie is also going to get Help for Heroes frequently popular lot at another auction, disposed of four Victorian –and that’s where the two of benefit from Andrew’s skills. but history does not record houses in Colston Parade. them met.” But the Bristol Muslim how much the lucky winners But that, of course, was a An unusual kind of Society, the Orthodox church saw for their money. conventional property auction, auctioneer and estate agent, in Romania, the Anglican The Bristol-based Soil where nobody was playing it then, Andrew Morgan – Church in Uganda and the Association was boosted when for laughs. though then again, maybe not Gurkha Welfare Trust are Andrew worked his magic on He started his career with quite as unusual as all that. among other organisations he a purebred Dorset Down sheep Lalonde Brothers and Parham “Not long ago I was up in has helped along the way. donated by Hugh in Queen’s Road, Clifton, and Stow-on-the-Wold, in one of Ten years ago, a lot at an Fearnley-Whittingstall –and went into business with Peter those posh country clothes auction for St Alban’s, a pair of TV chef Antony Beddoe to found Morgan shops,”he grumbles. Westbury Park’s repair fund Worrall Thompson’s trousers. Beddoe in Whiteladies Road in “I tried on a pair of cord was a trip around Southmead And everyone was cheered 1991. trousers I didn’t feel were police station and a tour of the up one evening when a local His new partner, ex-Clifton quite right, and I said to the cells, while last year Banksy solicitor gave them the chance College schoolboy Ollie Hollis, woman ‘What I really want is gave the voluntary group to bid for his services in has five years in the business a corn-coloured pair.’ Young Bristol a limited writing their will. and is a family friend. “‘Oh no you don’t, Sir,’ she edition print that Andrew Andrew’s biggest sale on “He found his wife at one of said very definitely. transformed into £15,000. behalf of a church was the my charity auctions,” Andrew ‘They’re the ones all the In action: Raising funds with the Bristol Muslim Society in 2005 A visit to Malmesbury’s £1,010,000 scooped by the claims. estate agents wear.’”