Steve Hosts his First Digital Auction

It’s not every day you get asked to host an auction, not to mention a digital one, and for charity for that matter. But that’s precisely what Steve will be doing this afternoon in partnership with architect Chris Dyson and the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects (WCCA), also known as The Architects’ Company.

More on the Auction

The auction stems from the inaugural, St Thomas Day Annual Drawing Competition hosted by WCCA. The competition, which ended just last week on July 3rd, had 27 fantastic entries from various artists.

It is their efforts, along with an additional number of selected drawings by the competition judges and other WCCA members, that are now being offered for sale in an online auction for charity. There will be three different charities benefiting equally from the proceeds of the auction, and these are:

• The WCCA Student Hardship Fund
• The Temple Bar Trust
• The Church of St Lawrence Jewry

More on the Competition and St Thomas – the Patron Saint of Architecture

The idea for a St Thomas Day celebration of any kind was born from a suggestion by WCCA’s Master, Valerie. She suggested that, as everyone were in lockdown and unable to meet in person, WCCA should encourage greater activity and events on social media to keep the company in contact.

Liveryman and Court Assistant, Chris Williamson had been reading about the formation of the Livery Companies and how they celebrated their “Guild Day” usually on the Feast Day of the Patron Saint of their particular trade of profession.

The Guild Day was an opportunity for these companies to focus on charitable giving. After some research and discussions with the Chaplain Canon Rev’d David Parrott from St Lawrence Jewry, it was established that Saint Thomas was to be acknowledged as the Patron Saint of Architecture.

At the same time, Renter Warden Chris Dyson was planning a sketching competition inspired by lockdown on the theme of “isolation”, while WCCA’s Master of Students, John Assael had just initiated a new Student Hardship Fund. Quite naturally, it was then decided to merge the two ideas and to charge an entry fee for the competition, which would then be donated to the Student Hardship Fund.

It was also agreed to ask the competitors to donate their work for auction to raise money, to be split equally between the Hardship Fund, the Temple Bar Trust and the church of St Lawrence Jewry. And as Saint Thomas’ Day is July 3rd, that date became a sensible one to end the competition on.

Partaking in charitable events is always special, and this one’s no different. And Steve? Well, he’s excited and couldn’t be more ready to get the auction going.

If you would like to chat to us about how Steve can host an event for you, get in touch on hello@steve-edge.com.