Auction raises funds for the Bathurst Agricultural Museum

More than 120 people piled into Pike’s Post at the Bathurst Agricultural Museum last Friday night to bid for the many items on auction, including weekends away, animal carcases, ornaments and a lot more in order to raise funds from the museum.

The atmosphere was festive, as always, as residents from all around the area vied for the best bargains.

An entire warthog or impala carcass was the first item up for sale, the animal gutted but the pelt left on for a butcher to expertly remove and the meat to be cut into portions. It was sold for R475, a real bargain for all lovers of game meat.

Other items up for sale included self-catering accommodation – a weekend for two to six at The Milking Parlour; two nights for four at Haga Haga Cabanas; a week for four at Marloth Park on the Kruger Park border; a weekend for four at Rugged Rocks; a bed and breakfast weekend for two at a casino; six Dance Fit Vouchers; beach rides at Three Sisters & Beachcombers; a JVA Fence Volt Meter and directional fault finder and much more.

Although the figure raised at the auction has not yet been released it was clear by the end of the evening that the museum had raised a considerable amount which will allow museum chairman Alan Pike to extend the exhibits the museum offers.

The museum was originally opened in 1970 with items on display including tractors, farming tools and implements and a host of other historically important farming equipment along with the recent addition of a working smithy, and Friday’s auction will allow the museum to continue its job of educating visitors on how farming was carried out in the past.