Who would have thought that an evening of antiques could be such fun, but that was exactly so of the Antiques – Call My Bluff event, organised by The Friends of Wellington Hospital and held at Wellington Rugby Club.

Experts Chris Hampton, Nic Saintey and Brian Goodison-Blanks from Exeter-based Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood, each gave a detailed description and estimated value of an item before inviting audience members to decide which was the correct one.

They worked their way through an interesting assortment of ten items, taking each one around the room for closer inspection.

Their descriptions ranged from the very plausible to the extremely far-fetched and they clearly had as much fun in dreaming up the often hilarious descriptions as the audience had in listening to them.

More than once there was a gasp of incredulity from the audience when the most seemingly implausible description was revealed as the truth.

Was the picture of flowers a reproduction worth £10, a Victorian still life worth £1-1.5k or an 18th Century masterpiece by that well-known artist Van Rental and worth £4-6k?

Was the hand tool a corkscrew for champagne, a device used by customs officers to make holes to look inside a container – allegedly the origins of the word peep-hole – or as turned out, a trepanation saw to make a hole in the skull - ouch!

The final item was a large bright portrait which turned out to be a self-portrait by Billy Childish – a friend of Tracy Emin – and worth £6/8k.

Two people managed to guess eight of the items correctly for which they each received a bottle of sparkling wine.

Ploughman’s suppers were served during the interval and raffle prizes were drawn. The event is expected to have raised £190 for League of Friends funds.

The next event is the Annual Hospital Fete, 10am-noon on Saturday, June 1, in the new venue of Wellington Scout Hall.

DIANE GRABHAM