Possessions owned by long-serving Archers actor Norman Painting have raised £9,000 for charity at auction.

Fans of the BBC Radio 4 drama series flocked to Banbury’s Holloway’s Auctioneers to bid for 40 lots owned by the late actor, who played the leading role of Ambridge farmer Phil Archer for nearly 60 years.

All the money raised at the auction on Tuesday will be split between Age Concern Warwickshire, for whom Mr Painting was a patron, national environmental charity The Tree Council, and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.

Items which went under the hammer included a trunk full of assorted photographs, books and Archers memorabilia, which fetched £110.

There was also a drawing of him with a pig commissioned by the BBC to mark 50 years in the programme, which raised £160.

Mr Painting lived in Warmington, near Banbury, and died in October last year, aged 85.

Mark Ashley, auctioneer and valuer, said bidders came from across the nation to snap up the items, with some bidding by phone.

He said: “The highest individual item sold was a clock which made £2,600. It was an 18th-century war clock that a Quaker made from around this area.

“They usually do very well, but this wasn’t in the best condition. It was found in an outbuilding in a biscuit tin among half-empty cans of paint. They fortunately found it and put it in the sale.

“The painting with the pig didn’t raise a great deal of money and a silver cigarette box given to him by the BBC for the 1,000th episode, in 1954, went for £190.”

A baby grand piano was also sold for £260, a decorated oar from a 1905 Oxford University boat race sold for £100, and a 17th-century oak chair fetched £320.

Mr Ashley said some bidders were not interested in the Archers connection.

He said: “We had hundreds of people viewing and we had a packed room on the day. People were interested in the furniture and collections for what they were, and the Norman Painting link was a little incidental.”

However, Mr Ashley said most buyers wanted a certificate to prove the item had come from Mr Painting’s collection.

He said: “People have grown up with him for over 50 years and locally he was very well known.

“He was very good with giving his time to charity events. He played the organ in the local church and he was someone people really took to.”