This beautiful early 20th century Austrian (marked Geschtzt) handmade cold painted solid bronze cat photo frame is a rare find indeed and we just had to show it off!
Gently peaking it’s head over the top with it’s paws holding the top and bottom of the frame with the tip of it’s curled up tail poking out underneath. Approximately 9.5″ high x 6.25″ wide and with an easel back.
This wonderful item is from our lovely dealer Ann Parker, it can be found in Unit 42P along with many other gorgeous antiques and mid century pieces.
In December, just before Christmas, we had the lovely Liza from Pixie Pottery visit us to stock up on vintage ceramics/plates, which she uses to make her beautiful mosaics.
Our Junk Shop is perfect for her to find what she needs, it always has a ready supply of china plates for use in craft / upcycling projects.
Liza re-purposes the vintage plates to make mosaic birds, wall hangings, plaques and mirrors. She sent us some lovely pictures of her work, using what she finds here at the Arcade and other places.
You can find her at www.pixietigerart.squarespace.com
This month we had a visit from John and Susan with a rather uncanny surprise! This visit however just so happened to be for John’s 67th birthday. John and Susan have been visiting us for the last 20 years and always enjoy their time spent with us. Particularly having a coffee up in the Cosy Coffee Shop followed by some bargain hunting!
Their favourite stall in the Arcade happens to be our famous “Junk Shop” which is ran by Lou. So shortly after their coffee, John and Susan headed on down to the Junk Shop in search of any treasures or trinkets they could find! After a good rummage John was suddenly being stared in the face by what can only be described as the perfect and a must buy item with out question! It was obviously meant to be!
John was looking at a pair of silver plate goblets both stamped with a single word. One said “John” the other said “Susan”! What are the chances of that happening! A great find and we hope you enjoy your Goblets, lets see if you can beat that on your next visit!
We are excited and thrilled to have yet another of our valued customers, Emma and James, celebrate their engagement by purchasing a stunning solitaire seen below. Nothing makes the day better for us than two people celebrating their love for one another in this way!
Emma and James live in Kent but have been visiting us here at the Hungerford Arcade since they met over 4 years ago. This particular visit however was a bit more special than others though!
It was to purchase the lovely engagement ring seen here on Emma’s finger. The ring they chose was from stall holder Brenda Neale (unit 4) and it’s a classic beautiful Solitaire.
We are all thrilled for the couple and delighted they chose to come to us at the Hungerford Arcade for their very important purchase. We wish them all the best and look forward to seeing them again soon, potentially with more exciting news?!
Its that time of year again where stall holder Ian
Spuffard concentrates his efforts in supporting his favourite charity, Macmillan Cancer Support. This week Ian has once again pulled out all the stops by doing his very own cake stall at
the Hungerford Town Hall.
With the cupcakes made by Jane Greenslade and the Flapjacks by our very own Wendy Spare, a successful day was had raising over £70 for Macmillan. Not to mention a belly full of cake no doubt!
Not only has Ian raised awareness and funds for his charity but Ian is also (as usual) taking part in the London Marathon this weekend to again raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. Despite all the train cancellations and potential travel issues in the capital, we have pulled together supporting Ian with cover and transportation so he can take part in the event.
We wish him all the best and will be cheering him on this Sunday. Currently Ian has achieved over £1000 towards his £1500 target but as always you can help support Ian and Macmillan Cancer Support by sponsoring him via the below link:
August was a scorching month, we had the sun beaming down on us with record temperatures, so keeping cool was a priority, (in more ways than one).
A first for me here at the Arcade, was spending most of the day with SVT television filming their new show ‘The Great Auction Show Down’ with series expert Paul Martin and guest expert Jessica Forrester from Special Auction Services (SAS) based in Newbury.
We had a lovely film crew who were all very helpful and friendly, as well as Paul and Jessica who made the day great fun to do.
They spent the majority of the day at the Arcade, with myself and unit holder Chris Jolliffe getting to do some filming as well, we can’t wait to see the end result, especially how the auction sale goes with the items from our various units.
It will be broadcast on Channel 5 in the near future, so watch this space……..
Get your dancing shoes on and join Macmillan’s August Dance Challenge this summer to help support people living with cancer!
Commit to dancing 20 minutes a day for Macmillan whether it be following along to a dance tutorial, joining an in person dance class of your choice or dancing to your favourite playlist while cooking!
We are extremely proud to see our very own Chula Bishop from “Beatnix Vintage” (unit 22) taking part in this fantastic fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support! Chula has been dancing every morning so far this month for at least 20 minutes whilst sporting her fabulous Macmillan T-Shirt (pictured below).
Like us you can help support Chula in her fundraising mission for this important cause by donating to her Facebook page: Dance For Macmillan
Macmillan are encouraging supporters to complete 20 minutes of dance-based exercise a day throughout the month of August. This can be split into intervals or can be done in one full 20-minute period depending on ability. A small warm up and cool down period before and after the 20-minute period. You can see more about this fundraiser on Macmillan’s Facebook page here: Macmillan’s August Dance Challenge
Chula has also recently expanded her retro empire to our newly acquired business, The Wallingford Arcade (The Lamb) along with some of our other dealers. Don’t forget to take a trip there and see what delights we have to offer for all!
This year as part of the “Hungerford Summer Festival”, a unique and prestigious competition for amateur artists was revealed to paint a portrait of Helen Simpson, the Mayor of Hungerford! A photo of the Mayor was provided for all the amateur artists to use for their portrait (see below). We are very pleased and proud to announce that this competition was successfully won by our very own Jane Elliman (unit 12) with her fantastic portrait on the left!
Jane has lived in the same location in the very northern tip of Hampshire all her life. Born to an artistic and creative family she was surrounded by two and three-dimensional craftspeople from an early age who were a massive inspiration. Jane attended Art College after leaving school and has spent much of time as a budding amateur artist who very much enjoys painting to please others.
Jane’s biggest inspiration is in the natural beauty of the changing seasons in the countryside that surround us and she enjoys creating exciting paintings in bright colours using either acrylic or oil. As quoted by Jane:
“I love the amazing sunsets and cloud formations that seem to be a daily part of my life on the remote down land of north Hampshire and these are the things I try to capture in my paintings”.
A wonderful picture taken at the Arcade of Jane receiving her winners trophy from Mayor Helen Simpson this week. Jane has kindly gifted the portrait to Helen after it has finished its public exhibition in Hungerford!
Once again a big congratulations from all of us here at the Arcade!
If you would like to see more of Janes artistic work please visit the below links:
Romance was blooming in the Arcade last month! We had a lovely American family visit us one day, unbeknownst to us, and to one member of their party, their was a big surprise planned!
Molly, her partner Alex, Molly’s parents and her sister popped in to visit while over here on a holiday celebrating Molly’s parents 40th wedding anniversary. They had visited us in the past and wanted to come back to show Molly and Alex the beautiful jewellery selection we have here.
Molly had an idea that they were popping in to look at possible engagement rings and to maybe trya few on.
Little did she know that Alex was planning to propose there and then if they found a ring! While Molly was taken off to look at the rest of the Arcade with her parents and sister, Alex bought the perfect ring they had found.
As soon as Molly came back round, Alex was down on one knee and proposed, Molly was in complete shock, she accepted straight away and she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face! They are now hoping to marry next year, and we are all thrilled here at the arcade and wish them every happiness.
They bought their ring from AJB ( Antique Jewellery Boutique) a family run business established for over 40 years, and have been here at the Arcade for over 20 years, they sell stunning preowned jewellery for all budgets and tastes!
Here at The Hungerford Arcade, we recently had the pleasure of meeting Dieter and his lovely inquisitive Son Aiden.
Dieter mentioned that he was starting up a group called Kaleidoscope. This all came about since his Son Aiden was official diagnosed with Autism. Dieter tried to find local support groups for him and Aiden to attend but found none available in the Hungerford area so that is why Kaleidoscope was founded.
Kaleidoscope has been designed as a safe space for any child with special needs so they can come and play and be themselves. It is also a support group for the parents where they can share stories and experiences. The first group session is on Saturday 10th September 2022 from 2.00pm-4.00pm
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