Celebrity Bottom Drawer

A one of a kind film camera coffin made in Ghana is among quirky items that could be yours this Christmas as A-listers sift through their D-list stuff to raise money for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH). The Celebrity Bottom Drawer auction is being organised by Griff Rhys Jones as he continues his annual festive fundraising for the charity. He is currently asking his network of celebrity friends built up over 40 years of comedy, TV and radio to re-gift items too valuable to take to the dump, with a tranche of top grade celebrity cast-offs, memorabilia and treasure expected to be available come 27 November, when a week-long online auction will begin.

Exclusive books from David Walliams and a special £10 note created for Doctor Who from David Tennant are among items that have already started coming in, with more to come from the likes of Alexander Armstrong, Ant and Dec, Ian Hislop, Joanna Lumley, Matt Lucas, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hollander and so many more.

Griff explains: “Last year we did a great show called Happy Christmas Ipswich at the Regent. A lot of good friends and great performers like Lee Mack, Rick Wakeman and Al Murray had a ball and raised over £70,000. We can’t do a show this year, for reasons I won’t bore you with because you know already. But we still need money.

“I have been to the children’s hospice in Ipswich myself several times and I have never been so moved. It is a place that is about life, not death. It is there to give joy. Not just to enable kids to get the best out of their time, but to support their mothers and fathers. These are people who may have had to entirely alter their lives, their hopes and their ambitions because of their love and sacrifice. For some parents just a single weekend of hospice care can be a beacon of hope. But it costs. The money this vital service needs, which is largely unsupported by government, has been hit grotesquely hard this year.”

This is the fourth Christmas running Griff has raised money for EACH, with last year’s star-studded show having followed two solo performances in 2017 and 2018. 

“I just moved house.” Griff said. “What a load of stuff I had. I thought I can send this to the dump or put it on ebay, but some of it was too good and too personal and I came up with this idea. You are lucky. We are lucky. I was lucky. Many of us have never had to face this challenge. But those that do, need and deserve our support. You don’t have to bid. You can just give.”

Bid-In Group were ideally placed to take on the challenge of building and launching an online auction for Griff Rhys Jones Celebrity Bottom Drawer, having re-purposed its staff into a task-force to help the fundraising community during the pandemic. So far they have raised in excess of £3m for charities this year alone. 

Bid-In has donated this service completely free-of-charge to The Celebrity Bottom Drawer, and has also been busy doing the same for many other charities. This generous initiative has been put in place in order to help charities to plug the fundraising gap during this hugely challenging time which has come about as a result of all events and gatherings being temporarily cancelled, and all fundraising moving online. If you’d like to know how Bid-In can help you, contact them on info@bid-ingroup.com.

For more information and to start looking at lots announced so far visit:

www.CelebrityBottomDrawer.com

www.each.org.uk