I HAD always held secret aspirations that a pair of wooden candle sticks given to me by my grandmother could be quite valuable.

So when I heard about an antiques valuation day by Bonhams Auctioneers of Leyburn in aid of the Butterwick Hospice in Bishop Auckland, I decided to seek out the truth.

I arrived at the Manor House Hotel, in West Auckland quite unprepared for the queues and was told that waiting times would be about an hour. It seemed everyone else had the same idea as me.

Sylvia Stoneham, fundraiser for the Butterwick Hospice, said: "It has been brilliant. The doors opened at 10.30am and by dinner time we had already made around £500."

As I sat nursing my candlesticks and a pair of miner's lamps that I had inherited, my confidence that they were worth a fortune was starting to wane dramatically.

I looked on as people took lots of weird and wonderful things out of their bags, from beautiful china and family silver to artworks, and even an ancient pram.

As I sat down to talk to valuer Guy Savill, from Bonhams, I wanted the room to swallow me up, especially when his face changed as I gingerly took my prized candles from my bag.

He smiled sweetly, but I could tell that he wanted to laugh, so I swallowed my pride and told him to be brutal with the truth.

Laughing he said: "I am afraid you would be lucky if you got £10 for these."

Not to be deterred, I presented him with the two miner's lamps, at which he just shook his head and smiled.

Disappointing, but I can live with it. I wouldn't have sold them anyway.

I wondered if anyone else had had more luck than me.

Guy replied: "We have found nothing of great value yet, but there are one or two interesting items that we intend to look into."

Speaking to a fellow antiques hunter, Wendy Pinkney, from Crook, I found that she had not had much luck, either.

She said of her items: "They weren't worth very much at all, although I was told one of the Toby jugs was Georgian.

"I was quite disappointed, but I had a good day and there were some interesting things around."

I don't think that any of the budding antiques collectors made their fortune on the day, but The Butterwick Hospice certainly made a few quid, which is what it was all about.