On July 4 I had the honour of conducting the auction of Haslemere Hogs – highly decorated sculptures of pigs that had been dotted around the town centre for three months – in aid of the mayor’s charities. Along with a selection of other lots, we raised £16,000 for good causes, as well as a tidy sum for Stepping Stones, the remarkable special needs school where the auction and reception took place, sited at Undershaw, once home to that master of detective fiction, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

When I say that Stepping Stones is remarkable, I mean that in more ways than one.

It’s been going for more than a decade now and provides for youngsters between 7 and 18 whose acute or chronic medical conditions, mental and emotional health issues prevent them from enjoying the sort of day-to-day schooling the rest of us take for granted. Stepping Stones is a triumph in navigating a course midway between mainstream schooling and more commonly found special school curricula and, in doing so, maximises opportunity for its students both at the school and after they leave.

Its newly constricted modern building is a metaphor for this process of finding the successful middle way, sitting in the hollow beneath the Hindhead junction alongside and linked to the original house built by Conan Doyle. Somehow, the ultra modern design works with the traditional architecture – and the new build literally saved the old house in the process.

As I write this they will be rolling back the covers and counting out the strawberries for Wimbledon, which celebrates its 140th anniversary this year. All British hopes will be on Andy Murray once more, although his sore hip and recent variable form – as well as a rejuvenated Federer and Nadal – means that we face one of the widest open fields for the championships in years.

Every time I watch Wimbledon and see players sign autographs and hand out their towels post match, I wonder how much these treasured collectables might be worth in years to come at auction. To be honest, most are so common that it will take an age for them to command any sort of decent price, but occasionally a fan strikes lucky, as when 19-year-old Murray Whitelaw caught Andy Murray’s prize-winning racquet when he tossed it into the crowd after Team GB won the Davis Cup in December 2015. The initial valuation of the racquet at the time was £10,000 – and Murray (the fan) sealed its provenance with media coverage, including a photo of himself with the tennis star.

Whitelaw vowed that the racquet would never be for sale and that he intended to have it framed. Good for him. I should imagine that with Andy’s 2016 Wimbledon win, World number one status and various other trophies added since, that racquet would be worth a fair bit more by now.