Te Anau Lions Club annual Steptoe Auction will be held this weekend for the last time after 50 years of running. 

President, Natalie Shanks commented that because of the increased competition from online sales and difficulty with recruiting younger members, Te Anau Lions decided that this would be their final auction.

“Organising the auctions is a lot of hard work. Our members are getting older and it’s just too much work for them,” she said. 

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With all proceeds going back to the community the Steptoe Auction has become an institution in Te Anau. Over the half a century of its existence the money raised at the auction has supported many community and youth projects, benefiting individuals as well as organisations, including local schools, scouts and clubs. 

Tom Roberts (senior) has been a member of Te Anau Lions since its inception in 1964. He remembers the very first Steptoe Auction held 50 years ago and all those held in consecutive years thereafter.

“We had a good turnout from the start. We’ve had many good years and used to have huge crowds. Only in the last few years the numbers started to go down as the auction has gone out of fashion,” he said. 

Mr Roberts has been helping with every auction and said he’d be there again this year.

If you have anything to sell at the auction bring your goods in on Friday, 23 October between 12 noon and 7.00pm. If you’d like anything picked up, please let a member of the Lions know as soon as possible before Friday lunchtime.

The organisers are charging 15% commission for all goods fetching a price of up to $1000, and 5% thereafter. Items that fail to sell for more than $5 will be considered a donation to the Te Anau Lions Club. The auction will operate on a “cash only” basis.

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Goods that are considered unsalable, such as old TV sets, computers or out of date electronic equipment, will not be accepted. All sold and unsold goods need to be taken away by 3pm on the day of the auction.

The auction will be held at the Real Journeys Fiordland Community Events Centre on Saturday, 24 October from 9am till 12.30pm.

For more information call Natalie Shanks on 249 7845 or 027 671 0674 or contact any other Te Anau Lions Club member.