Walking for charity

Last night atthe Hurlingham Club Freddie Flintoff and his wife Rachael launched the Andrew Flintoff Foundation. The event was held in the ballroom where the tables were set out on either side of a central dance floor, which meant that the auctioneer - me - had to walk from one side to the other to keep up with the bids. My auction assistant, Chris Beetles, estimated that during the twelve Lots (40 minutes) I walked about 3 miles; I weighed myself this morning to find I'd lost 2lbs. The evening was attended by 650 people, including Andrew Strauss and nine members of the Ashes team that beat Australia at Lord's, not to mention Shane Warne, Alec Stewart, Michael Vaughan and Alan Lamb. The auction raised £200,000 for the Foundation, despite the fact that Freddie made the decision to withdraw the ball and stump for a later event, when, to quote him, "We'll have won the Ashes." The most popular Lot was an opportunity to attend the US Masters golf tournament in Augusta next year, and in the Par 3 competition held the day before the Masters, to caddy for Lee Westwood, a close friend of Freddie's. He was among the guests, and bidding was frantic and furious, with the hammer coming down at £43,000, bringing the total to £196,000. I then offered my £18 wooden initialled auctioneer's hammer for sale, and a gentleman on Mr Westwood's table bid £4,000 - some 220 times its value - bringing in a final total of £200,000. Well done Freddie, and good luck with the Foundation.