Dynamic duo’s last ‘sold to’THE curtain came down on 14 years of fundraising around the bars of Lyme Regis on Saturday when that dynamic duo, Phil Street and Mike Higgs, conducted their last charity auction.
It was appropriate that their ‘last hurrah’ was held at the Football Club for it was back in 1995 that they conducted their first “Harvest Home”, raising £1,200 for the club’s youth section at the Ship Inn.
“Harvest Homes” are unique to Lyme Regis and have been held in the town for many years. At one time they were just a auction of harvest-type produce and, in the main, it was the late George Curtis, father of former mayor Ivor Curtis, who wielded the hammer.
Whilst there is still a smattering of produce which goes under the hammer, these days the auction items are far more varied and interesting and have raised many thousands for local organisations.
In fact, over the last 14 years that Phil and Mike have been uttering the immortal words “sold to ...” they estimate that they have raised in excess of £70,000 for local good causes, a magnificent total.
There’s always been a lot of fun at these events. A few years ago when I was playing cricket regularly I was conned into buying my own cricket bat - several times!
Phil and Mike, who are the best of pals, have always added a great deal of fun to the auctions over which they presided. They always started with a couple of pints to get in the mood and finished in similar vein.
The football club, I am pleased to say, gave them a superb send-off on Saturday night, the players making an archway to the bar after they had sold the last lot which brought the total raised that night to £1,600. Another fantastic result.
Over the years Phil and Mike have been involved in all sorts of crazy fundraising events but their best and biggest earner was coming up with the idea of “Candles On The Cobb”.
If you were to add up the amount they have raised over the years it would probably exceed £250,000.
Whilst they may have hung up their auction hammer for good, they will still be doing their bit for the community in the years to come.
And having more fun along the way, that’s for sure.
PICTURE: BEST PALS - Phil Street and Mike Higgs pictured at the Football Club on Saturday before their very last auction
Ron would have loved it so much
I SHOCKED my daughter last week when I returned home, slightly squiffy, and said: “That was the most enjoyable funeral I have ever attended.”
I had been to the thanksgiving service for Ron Baker, the former Lyme hairdresser and RAF veteran who had died suddenly a couple of weeks ago.
As expected, St Michael’s Parish Church was packed and the Reverend Keith Vivian, who conducted the service, made it clear from the outset that he wanted it to be a “joyous occasion”.
Joyous? It was positively hilarious and Ron would have just loved it.
He was the type of man who would not put up with any form of sychophancy and did not suffer fools gladly in life - he left specific instructions to his family that he did not want a eulogy full of flowery prose - and he certainly had no intention of doing so in death.
Well, he did not get any flowery prose, although there were a few choice expressions that you rarely hear in church. The job of producing a tribute which was not a eulogy fell to eldest son Geoff, a talented journalist who had us all in fits relating some of his father’s idiosyncrasies that made life growing up in the Baker household so much fun.
It was the most irreverent, outrageous but brilliant speech I have ever heard in a church but no one felt it crossed the boundaries of decency in any way.
Geoff, the most talented reporter I every employed, very cleverly paid the most tender of tributes to his father without it seeming that he was actually saying anything good about him. It was very cleverly written and the Reverend Vivian, to his great credit, like the rest of us, had a big smile on his face throughout.
Afterwards we celebrated Ron’s life in the way he would have wanted - down at the Pilot Boat - and watched, some of us with a little lump in our throats, as the Baker boys fired a rocket into the sky containing a lock of Ron’s hair - the former Lancaster bomber pilot’s very last flight.
Live longer in Lyme
HERE’S another reason why we should thank our lucky stars that we live in Lyme Regis and its idyllic surrounds.
According to a survey published in last week’s Daily Mail, Lyme Regis is among the top ten town’s with the best mortality rate.
In other words, we are likely to, live longer.
In the Mail’s list of the “Ten Longest-Lived Towns” Lyme was placed equal fifth with Colyton with a mortality rating of 6.9. Top place went to Montacute, near Yeovil, with 6.4.
Chard was not placed.
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