As you know, at the start of lockdown we started working out ways that we could support the Observatory operations by bringing in revenue whilst we had to close, but at the same time giving something back to our supporters, rather than just asking for donations.
24 June 2020
We did this by reaching out to our friends and supporters and sourcing quality items to use as prizes for assorted quizzes/prize draws/auctions, to which we had an amazing response for which we are truly very grateful for.
We got in touch with our friend and world renowned bird artist, Ian Lewington. Ian had very kindly agreed to paint the Siberian Accentor from 2016 for the front cover of Spurn Wildlife that year. And now we have 10 mounted, A4 giclee prints of this bird which made Vicars Lane, Easington so famous.
These prints will now be auctioned off, in a similar fashion to our previous two lockdown auctions, with the top 10 bidders all getting a mounted print.
This is an online auction, with bids sent to sbotauctions@gmail.com, full instructions below. There is a reserve for each print and won't be sold unless that reserve is met. You will be notified by email to confirm your bid initially and if you are knocked out of the top 10 bidders, you will be informed of the new 10th highest bid. Please check your junk email to make sure you don't miss these emails!
The auction will run until 17:00hrs on 8th July 2020. Whomever is the highest bidder at this point wins the item and will be requested to pay via PayPal/bank transfer/cheque etc.).
Instructions:
1. To place a bid on an item, simply email sbotauctions@gmail.com and state your bid.
2. You will then recieve and email to confirm your bid has been received and whether or not you are in the top 10 highest bids. If you do not recieve this email please check your junk folder
3. At the end of the auction we will email all winning bidders to confirm they have won the Sibe Acc print and arrange postage/payment etc.
Big thanks to Ian Lewington for supporting the Observatory with sending us these amazing prints for us to auction off. We are very thankful in these hard times.
We hope you enjoy this auction, please dig deep and help support the Observatory whilst also winning valuable prizes. Any questions about items in the auction can be sent to sbotauctions@gmail.com
Vouchers: In response to the COVID-19 outbreak we have now added vouchers to our online shop. These can be used for purchases of Spurn Bird Observatory merchandise, accommodation costs for staying at the Observatory and events. Please note these are not redeemable on the Spurn Migration Festival 2020. We are also unable to redeem the vouchers through the online shop for the moment.
These vouchers are designed so that you can support the Observatory during these hard times and redeem them once the lockdown/COVID-19 outbreak is over.
During these troubling times, the Observatory is in need of our friends' support more than ever. Rather than just launch a ‘Go-Fund-Me-donation-push’ we as a committee have decided that the best way to be fair to everyone is to run a series of quizzes, prize draws and auctions which we believe will be much more engaging and provide some entertainment for all, whilst supporting the Observatory. The prizes will range in value from a few pounds to several thousand pounds. We are also planning to screen a series of Spurn online talks over the coming weeks that will include subjects related to the Observatory, ID features and assorted birding/migration topics.
