Residents Urged To Raid Lofts To Help Homeless Young People

Residents in Cirencester are being urged to raid their attics and trawl through their garages to help young people without a home.

Experts from Moore Allen & Innocent are going to be offering an antiques valuation service for the charity Cirencester Housing for Young People (CHYP) to raise funds for the project. 

For a suggested donation of £5 Philip Allwood – a regular face on TV shows such as Antiques Road Trip, Flog It, Bargain Hunt and Dickinson’s Real Deal – will tell antiques owners more about their heirlooms and collectables, and more importantly their potential value.

It's the fifth valuation day for the charity that Moore Allen & Innocent has run. Last year valuers examined at a cubist watercolour by the Georgian contemporary artist Zaza Tuschmalischvili, which was purchased by its owner in a charity shop for a mere £4. 

Gefangeme Liebe - or Prisoner of Love - was later valued at between £500 and £800, which is a truly staggering price difference.

At the same valuation event a painting by the Irish lithographer and watercolour landscape and marine artist Thomas Leeson Rowbotham featuring Lake Maggiore in his typical style - land and figures to the right of the picture, water and boats to the left - was also given the same valuation of £500 to £800.

Also at last year's event a circa 1627 framed map of Asia published by John Speed, based on the 1623 map by Jodocus Hondius and featuring an elephant in the middle of China, the Great Wall too far to the north of the country, and America just off the ‘Chinean’ coast was valued at between £500 to £700. 

An Elizabeth I long cross shilling - shaved of silver at the edges, but otherwise in good condition - was valued at £200 to £300, while an early 20th century hammered silver vase by the designer Charles Robert Ashbee - who set up the Guild of Handicraft in Chipping Campden in 1902 - was cautiously estimated to be between £1,000 and £1,500.

“People are often surprised at how much their belongings might be worth. Whether they intend to sell them, insure them, or are just interested in finding out more about them, it has to be worth coming along for a small donation to this very worthwhile cause.”

CHYP runs two houses in Cirencester for homeless young people between the ages of 16 and 25. At maximum capacity it can cater for 11 young people at a time, and helps roughly 30 youngsters a year.

£200,000 needs to be raised by the charity every year, and this year’s fundraising efforts will support the work of the six full - and part-time key workers who provide one-to-one emotional and practical support.

The young people are helped with every aspect of their lives, from identifying educational, training and employment opportunities, to learning how to cook and wash their clothes.

The charity aims to get its young clients back on their feet, with the security of a job and accommodation of their own.  

The event wil take place on Saturday, March 14 from 10am until 2pm at Moore Allen & Innocent’s sale rooms in Burford Road, Cirencester, GL7 5RJ.