WOTTON’S arts hub raised more than £8,000 at a community fundraising auction.

Under the Edge Arts (UTEA) held a Promises Auction to mark the centre’s 10th anniversary.

Over 70 items were available for online bidding and around 20 special lots were reserved for bids at a dinner auction on Saturday, March 15 in Kingswood Village Hall.

The Wotton and surrounding communities banded together to offer over 100 diverse lots, ranging from music lessons to town tours, paintings and life coaching.

Martin Clarke, who organised the auction, said it had been a great success.

He said: “We made around £6,300 from the auction, online and on the night, and sales of food and drinks took the overall profit to £8,300.

“Everyone is really delighted. It’s exceeded expectations and built up expectations for the future.”

Saturday night’s event was a sell-out, with 128 people getting together to bid, dance and celebrate UTEA.

Mr Clarke added: “For UTEA it was a big event and it brought together all our supporters.

“We obviously want to thank the generosity of bidders and the buyers – without them we wouldn’t have had an auction.”

He said special thanks go Denise Carr, who volunteered to cook all the food and manage a team of volunteers on the night. Gideon York was the lucky bidder to win a guest column in the Gazette for four weeks.

The 350-word column can focus on anything from personal to community matters, as long as it mentions Wotton-under-Edge each week.

All funds raised go towards the continued programme of arts events at UTEA at the Chipping Hall in Wotton-under-Edge.

For more information, or to bid ahead of the event, visit www.utea.org.uk