On track for wall to wall success

Donald Cline, the man organising the event, called Wall to Wall, admits that he's borrowed an idea from Mary Portas, television's Mary Queen of Shops. She has given high street charity shops a lift by calculating that if a donator's name is displayed with whatever they hand over, it's more likely to be decent stuff.

The same will apply at Richmond where all the donated prints, photographs and illustrations will be on display throughout February so people can take their time about what offer to make. "It's an opportunity to acquire some great pictures for your walls and pay no more than you think they are worth," says Donald Cline.

This could be quite a lot in the case of an original pastel by Mackenzie Thorpe and an original watercolour by Simon Palmer. Prince Charles is offering a signed copy of his book The Old Man of Lochnager plus a privately guided tour of his gardens at Highgrove.

The Prince has previously paid a visit to the venue, the Station at Richmond, and he keeps in touch to see how this unusual project is prospering. All the auction money will be in aid of the Station which would stand out in any company as a remarkable example of how an idea can inspire and galvanise a community. It was brought into being by the tenacity of a team of volunteers, of which Donald Cline is one.

At one time, Richmond's glum Victorian railway station was at the end of the line. By the compact scale of Richmond, the station is some way out of the centre, down the hill and away from the economic heartbeat of the town around the historic market square. Stuck out on a limb, it could be an easy place to ignore when there's no train to catch.

To attract people afresh, it needed to be stylish and welcoming and self-confident in another role. This is just as it appears today in the form of a social enterprise business which means it does not pay any dividends. It's not an industrial unit, or a caf, an arts centre, a gallery, or a cinema. But it has assembled parts of all of these into a pleasing set-up, a one-off, that seems to work as a sociable focus for local people and as a visitor attraction.

It cost 2.7m to re-invent the Station and raising that kind of cash required some thought on the part of the fund-raisers. "It's a pretty modest amount if it was in a place like Leeds, but it's a fair whack up here," says Donald Cline, still very much an American even after years of living in North Yorkshire.

He was a university student in Wisconsin when he met his English wife Nina on campus. Donald went on to work in broadcasting in Minneapolis and came to England in the mid-Seventies. His final radio job was with a local Teesside station, and 35 years ago the couple moved to Richmond. Nina set up a bookshop in Castle Hill, along with others, and Donald spent the next 28 years working there.

It's one of the best jobs there is for making contacts. This came in useful just at the point when he was thinking of winding down. The bookshops were being sold and Nina didn't want him doing anything else that was too full-on.

At that time, the redundant station was occupied by a hardware store-cum-garden centre. In 2000, the council, which owns the 999-year lease, could not agree a new deal with the tenant, and began marketing the station with a view to making a pile of cash to spend on new council offices.

A local Nimby group objected to various schemes put forward. Donald Cline suggested to them that instead of saying no to everything, they put forward their own proposals for the Grade Two starred listed building. The upshot was the formation of a Richmondshire Building Preservation Trust and a Friends of the Station group. Donald was "sucked into the vortex" and retirement was put

on hold.

Soon there were 2,000 members of the friends' group. They had a lot of success raising half a million from individuals and small charitable organisations, but persuading the keepers of the bigger public purses to release the strings was a harder task. "They tend to be nervous of voluntary groups because they are not sure if they are in it for the long haul," says Donald. Eventually they were persuaded. The only public cash they are receiving at the moment is 16,000 from the Arts Council.

The concept Donald had in mind owed something to his memories growing up on the north side of Chicago. "A very wealthy guy left his mansion on Lake Michigan to the community. It was used for movies, art classes, all sorts of things.

"We didn't want something that was seen as elitist. People come for all sorts of different reasons. It's an easy sale, Richmond; it's not chi chi, it's still got a flat cap feel to it. We had a guy from Toronto, a computer consultant, who took a three-month let on a property in the town and used this place as his office. A food festival in October brought 4,000 visitors in two days, not bad in a town of 8,000 inhabitants.

"In the first year of trading as the landlord we had 11 long-term tenants. That's where the income is generated."

Most of the businesses are new start-ups which have created 35 new jobs. Their total turnover in the first 12 months was just short of 3m. Compare this with a turnover of 30m for all the shops in Richmond's market place area. The cinema is run by Rob Younger from Barnsley, a former City Screen man, who had his best week ever last half term. Sue Archer with husband John farms 350 acres with 350 Jerseys and 10 per cent of their 40,000 litres of milk go into the couple's artisan ice cream-making. "This has been a lifeline for us," says Sue. "We've doubled out production here.

"Our operation also adds to the interest of the Station. People like walking around it and cinema-goers come out and buy ice cream in the interval."

Simon Lacey, the cheesemaker on site, has been busy on television showing Janet Street-Porter the ropes for Gordon Ramsay's Show The F Word.

Andy Hamilton spent 10 years working for John Smith's at Tadcaster and was head brewer for Scottish and Newcastle before he arrived here to start the Richmond Brewery Company.

He now supplies six to eight pubs and has people eagerly watching and sniffing his week-long brewing cycle and buying his bottled beer.

The success of the place as a sociable enterprise, as well as a social one, must in large part go to Jane Gallogly, originally from York, and her partner Ian Woodcock, who run the welcoming caf, arranged open-plan.

"It was just an empty shell when I came here but I fell in love with the place straight away," says Jane.

"I could see the potential because Richmond definitely needed a meeting place. It doesn't feel intimidating and it appeals to everyone. It's far exceeded our expectations."

After six years as a Station trustee, Donald Cline has stepped down to be an "advocate". But he's leading the PR offensive to attract attention to the forthcoming auction.

"We need the money to create a surplus for when things wear out and also to cover your risks as a charity."

It was a bit of a coup to get Mackenzie Thorpe involved. "My family and I shared so many formative, life-changing experiences in Richmond, which we will never forget," he says. It's 21 years since he moved to the town and opened his first gallery. "The Station is a fantastic asset to Richmond, he adds." I love the concept of a veritable smorgasbord of art work, all coming together to be exhibited with a common aim, finding a new home on a new wall, to be enjoyed afresh by new owners.

"The piece I created for it was inspired by the title of the event and is symbolic of a journey between two homes, a figure moving from one house to another." Another of Mackenzie Thorpe's works, donated by a benefactor, has also brought back old memories.

"I remember painting the piece in those early days in Richmond, when times were very hard."

Sir Michael Parkinson has sent a portrait of himself as Whistler's Mother by Chris West – in the style of a celebrated 1871 portrait by the American artist James McNeill Whistler.

Other donated works include pieces from the collections of William Hague, Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, Joe

Cornish, Lord and Lady Zetland, and the Bishop of Ripon.

Some celebs have happily chipped in for the Richmond event, but seem a bit hazy about the geography. Maureen Lipman told them: "I can come when I visit my parents in Hull. Is it near?"

Wall-to-Wall Silent Art Auction. You can place bids online or in person from February 1-28. For more details, see www.wall-to-wall-art.com