Fashion, Interior & Garden Design Stars To Sell Treasures At Chippenham Church Fundraising Sale
Lulu Guinness, the fashion designer; Mary Keen, the garden designer; interior designers Lady Lansdowne, Emily Todhunter, of Todhunter Earle Design and Emma Burns of Colefax and Fowler are just some of the famous names and leading lights from the worlds of fashion and design to be selling treasured items and rare objects at the inaugural St Andrew’s Church Decorators’ Attic Sale and Auction that takes place at the Church from 1030am until 3pm on 6 December 2025.
Father Benji Tyler, the Vicar of St Andrew’s, was an interior designer before training for the priesthood. He came up with the idea to help raise money for the Church and its work in Chippenham, approaching his contacts and friends from across the industry and locally to create this unique event.
The Decorators’ Attic Sale and Auction will feature around 10 stalls run by the leading designers all selling items to members of the public. In addition, there be an auction for 30 items of higher interest and significant provenance. The auction will be facilitated by Dore & Rees, the Frome based auction house, that is sponsoring the event. Marc Allum, the Dore & Rees specialist and BBC Antiques Roadshow TV star, who lives in Chippenham with his wife Lisa Lloyd, curator of Hand of Glory Antiques, will conduct the auction.
Admission to the event cost £2-£5 and objects on sale on the day will be priced from £5 upwards, providing local people and design fans alike the chance to purchase unique, high quality and interesting items in the run up to Christmas.
The ten main stall holders will include:
Lulu Guinness and Serena Soames who will be selling vintage ‘itsmeluluguinness’ designs and modern handbags.
Lady Lansdowne, sells items from her interior design business including a regency bamboo sofa.
Mary Keen, the Gloucestershire-based high profile garden designer and author, is donating items from her own garden collection
Emma Burns of Colefax and Fowler and Joshua Hale, a rising name in interior design, will be offering fabrics and objets d’art from their collections.
Catherine Fitzgerald, leading garden designer: garden items from her Wiltshire home she shares with actor-husband Dominic West.
Marc Allum, Antiques Roadshow expert and Lisa Lloyd, curator behind Hand of Glory antiques in Chippenham will be offering a storehouse full of exciting antiques and curios.
Emily Todhunter of Todhunter Earle Design and JJ McCarthy of Somerset will be piling their stalls high with decorative treasures.
Perfect Rooms & Interiors, a Corsham based interior design agency.
The Vicar, Benji Tyler will be selling items accrued from his years in interior decoration including vintage and archive Colefax & Fowler curtains and fabrics, Soane Britain cushions, Romo velvets, antique lighting, and decorative objects.
Other items on sale include angel-themed Christmas cards, hand-made Christmas Tree decorations and limited-edition St Andrew’s Church tote bags designed by Architectural Designer Simon Wimble.
Father Benji Tyler, Vicar of St Andrew’s Church said: “I wanted to organise a pre-Christmas fundraising event that could be sustainable and fun whilst helping to support some of the restoration and art projects planned for our church. For anyone who loves classic English decoration there will be the opportunity to find something special from a wide array of fabulous designers. The money raised will help care for our cherished Medieval church and its work in Chippenham. This includes work on the Chancel and protected stone painted inscriptions of The Lord’s Prayer and Ten Commandments, support the development of our new children’s choir and enable the commissioning of contemporary art to inspire faith in this generation and beyond.
“I know from my own experience that many interior decorators collect objects, furniture and fabric – more than they can possibly use! Having recently completed the decoration the Vicarage, I had a huge number of decorative pieces – from left-over fabrics and un-needed soft furnishings to inherited antiques and accumulated treasures that just didn’t fit - needing new homes, hence the idea of a Decorators’ Attic Sale and Auction seemed a natural solution.
“This sale provides a novel way for leading designers to sell these items and raise money for our church. The support we’ve had from the design community has been overwhelmingly positive and we’re all looking forward to a great event.”
Lulu Guinness, Fashion Designer, said: “I’ve enjoyed so many wonderful experiences in my career as a fashion designer – but never an Attic Sale in a church! I am terrifically excited to be taking part, selling vintage and contemporary handbags as well as a few treasures from my own home to raise money for St Andrew’s and support its valuable work in Chippenham.”
Lady Lansdowne, said: ”I’m thrilled to be helping raise vital funds for Chippenham’s historic St Andrew’s Church, joining other wonderful decorators as we raid our attics for hidden treasures”
Marc Allum, Consultant specialist to Dore & Rees Auctioneers and BBC Antiques Road Show expert said: “It is fantastic to see nationally acclaimed designers come to Chippenham to support St Andrew’s church. The attic sale will be interesting with many items to buy. I am very much looking forward to running the separate auction as many of the objects going under the hammer come from designs that grace some of the UK’s best addresses and stately homes. I know that many buyers and collectors are coming and it should be a very exciting auction to run - and all for a great cause.”
The event will be held under the watchful eye of hundreds of angels that will have been created as part of Heaved Opened, the St Andrew’s Festival of Angels that takes place throughout December. The event will see local community groups, schools and children create angels to be suspended from the Church ceiling, around the building and churchyard over Christmas.
Tickets for entry to the event cost £2 or £5 and can be booked from: http://bit.ly/3LW7jcz. Ticket holders pay on the door when they arrive.
