THE financial future of Hereford Rowing Club has been secured at a stroke.

An antique table that the club put up for auction fetched £66,000 when £6,000 was expected at the most.

Even experts at the Brightwells' Leominster saleroom were astonished.

The club committee had only met to talk money the night before. Some of them had sat round that very same circular oak table for similar talks over the years.

Chief Steward Robert Gibbon says the £66,000 will be invested at all levels of the club's operation, with a re-vamp of the Greyfriars clubhouse a priority.

A lean patch has meant the club having to look at what assets would fund its future, and the committee room table that came from Denco around 50 years ago was among those that could go.

"We expected about £6,000 for it," said Mr Gibbon.

A call confirming £66,000 came as something of a surprise, he said.

At that moment minds were more occupied with mopping up the clubhouse after yet another flooding, the sum took a little time to sink in.

At Brightwells, eyes were wide as soon as the table went on show last week. Eleven telephone bidders boosted commission bids.

The table eventually went to a trade buyer from London.

Dating from the 19th century, the 6ft 6in wide table - extending to 9ft 3in with four outward leaves - is a 'very rare' piece of furniture, said Brightwells'valuer Andrew Edwards.

"It is a collector's piece. I've only seen four such tables pass through salerooms over my 30 years in the business."