Local residents have helped the BBC TV show ‘Street Auction’ raise almost £2,000 to pay for a much-needed break for a Burnham-On-Sea mother and her family who lost a young family member and set up a charity in his memory.
An episode of BBC One’s Street Auction was filmed in Burnham’s Manor Gardens on Sunday (June 25th), attended by hundreds of local people.
BBC presenters Paul Martin and Izzie Balmer, pictured right, cut a ribbon to open the event before an afternoon of community entertainment with music, dance, stalls and a pop-up auction took place.
Crowds of local people headed to the gardens to support the event, although the TV show’s format meant that the amount raised and the local beneficiary was not revealed until the end of the filming.
To loud cheers and clapping, Paul Martin said at the end of the show’s taping that £1,976 had been raised to enable Jo Clement, the mum of the late teenager Charley Marks, and her family to go away on a break together in recognition of their community work with the charity In Charley’s Memory.
The charity was formed after Charley took his own life, aged 18, in September 2014. The group supports and helps hundreds of young people and those affected by mental health.
A very emotional Jo told Burnham-On-Sea.com she was “completely stunned”, adding: “This is the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me – it’s wonderful!” she said.
The pop-up auction items – ranging from artwork to jewellery and a home-made rug to a bicycle – were donated by local residents during recent weeks to the BBC production team.
They collected unwanted or unloved items, with the idea that someone’s trash is someone else’s treasure.
The episode of ‘Street Auction’ will be shown on BBC One during September on a weekday morning at 11am – the date is yet to be confirmed.
