A year of special events to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Shropshire prep school, Packwood Haugh, continued last Saturday evening with an Auction of Promises.

Guest auctioneer, famous antiques expert and former Packwood parent Tim Wonnacott, deployed all of his professional expertise to draw out bids from the extremely generous audience.

Parents, staff and friends of the school had offered a huge variety of lots ranging from lunch at the House of Commons, to the more mundane, but no less eagerly bid for, including maths coaching and an evening’s babysitting by the headmaster.

Other lots included tickets for rugby internationals, shooting days, fishing days and a week in a villa in Ibiza among others – more than 50 lots altogether.

Packwood headmaster, Clive Smith-Langridge, commented: “The evening was a great success, during which plenty of banter and ‘gentle persuasion’ among friends helped to push the bidding along.

“In the end the total amount of money raised was more than £22,000, a magnificent sum that will provide a tremendous boost to the 125 Appeal for the redevelopment of Science facilities at Packwood.”