One of only 250 Macallan whisky decanters celebrating Robert Burns will headline an auction aimed at raising funds for a Speyside community.
The Craigellachie Village Council looks after the upkeep and maintenance of their local hall, pavilion, playing field and tennis court – a task that can run up costs of thousands of pounds.
Now the village council have come up with the plan to use their link with Whisky to hold a special auction at the start of the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival next week.
Top of the donated items being offered is a Macallan Robert Burns Simi-quincentenary decanters, one of only 250 produced. Presented in a wooden cradle and accompanied by a poem, one of the presentation decanters sold last year for £2500 – one of the decanters is currently being offered for sale on Amazon for £5000.
“We have whisky on offer for every budget from £10 to over £3000,” organiser Brenda Cooper said, adding: “For the past few years we have been working on a programme of upgrade and improvements to our village hall and that has required a fair bit of fundraising.
“Next on our schedule is the provision of a fitted kitchen in the village hall.”
It is hoped that international interest will be shown in the auction with visitors from around the world heading for Moray and Speyside for the annual festival.
The auction will contained 170 items – 23 of which are being sold with the entire proceeds going to the village council. The sale will take place from 2pm on Sunday, May 3 – prospective bidders can view the lots available from 12noon that day.
Bidder registration forms are available from jane@craig515.plus.com and any remote bids must be registered not later than 9pm on Saturday, May 2.
A catalogue and full details of the sale can be found online.