A SUCCESSFUL antiques valuation day in Kidderminster last Friday gave a £292 boost to the Back on Track Appeal.

A team of four experts from leading fine art auction house Halls, which has offices in Shrewsbury and Kidderminster, valued a huge assortment of items throughout the day at the Swan Centre.

The items included a 1903 aluminium frame tennis racket made in Birmingham in 1903 and valued at around £500. The racket is a prized possession of June Reynolds, of Kidderminster, who was given it by her late mother when she was five years old.

"My grandparents had an antiques shop in Smethwick and my mum brought it home for me because we had a tennis court in the garden," said Mrs Reynolds. "Following the advice from the experts, I plan to do more research about the racket, which is still used by my grandchildren."

Michelle Winfield, of Far Forest, brought in a cased 19lb 1oz pike caught by her late grandfather Jack Rooker from the River Wye at Holme Lacy in 1946. Valued at £900, the pike was preserved by taxidermists J Cooper and Son, Middlesex.

"I am looking after it for my mum and love it as an item because of the link to my granddad," she said.

John Wilson, of Kidderminster, was delighted with a valuation of up to £3,000 for a parquetry writing box made by his great grandfather, George Wilson, in the 1870s "I believe it was made for an exhibition at Crystal Palace and I have the original design plan for the box," he said.

A local collector of autographs of showbiz stars was pleased to hear that Frank and Mia Sinatra alone were worth around £200. Other autographs in her collection included Gracie Fields, Frank Ifield and Arthur Askey, A woman, who was over from France visiting relatives in the Kidderminster area, was surprised to hear a Nymphenburg 18th century porcelain tea bowl, which she bought at a car boot sale for two Euros, was valued at £100.

Jewellery and collectable ceramics specialist Christina Trevanion took in an Edwardian seedpearl necklace valued at up to £600, which will be sold at Halls' sale of fine pictures, silver and jewellery on June 25.

The other Halls' team members included fine art director Jeremy Lamond, a ceramics and toys specialist, senior valuer and auctioneer Andrew Beeston, who specialises in British and European furniture, works of art and silver, and William Lacey, an art and books expert.

"Although there were no major discoveries, it was a successful and enjoyable event for a very good cause," said Mr Lamond. "As a result of the event, we have a number of follow-up calls to make in the Kidderminster area in the coming weeks, including one to view a potentially valuable collection of Corgi toys."

Shuttle/Times & News editor Clive Joyce said: "We are very grateful to Halls for giving up a considerable amount of their time to support our appeal.

"This kind of event is always extremely popular and we must have had more than 70 people bring along some of their treasured possessions to be valued.

"The Swan Centre was also a perfect venue and we must thank the management and staff for making us so welcome."

Halls' experts are happy to make home visits to view collections of antiques, paintings, silver, jewellery, works of arts, coins and toys.

The team also holds regular valuation sessions at the company's office at Gavel House, Franche Road, Kidderminster. Contact Halls on 08451 309610 to make an appointment.

Click here to see our new antiques feature articles in the Lifestyle section of shuttleXtra which will be live on the website at 7am on Saturday. The first article is about those much-loved Corgi and Dinky models.