Martyn's Lens

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Just got this email.

If anyone has any contact info for Steve, then they can either pm it to me and I will pass it on or they can contact Sue Ryder direct and let us all know that they have done so.

Supportercare Supportercare supportercare@suerydercare.org (sent by paul.apenteng@suerydercare.org)

10:02 AM (24 minutes ago)

to me
Dear ByChance,

Thank you for your call regarding Martyn's Lenses and his wishes. I also want to thank you for offering the support of the forum in resolving the situation. Of course, we will do everything we can to come to a resolution as swiftly as possible. I have passed the information to our eBay administrator, with the advice that she arrange for a pick up of the goods so that we can sell the lenses through the Sue Ryder eBay page. If you are able to provide us with contact information for Saffer Steve, it would be appreciated.

Kind regards,
Paul

--
Supporter Care Team

Claire Ellis-Waghorn (Supporter Care Manager) ext: 5969
Chloe Laurance (Supporter Care Executive) ext: 5931
Paul Apenteng (Supporter Care Executive) ext. 5946
Seanna Fallon (Supporter Care Assistant) ext: 5935
Leoni Padilla (Supporter Care Assistant) ext: 5936)

Sue Ryder, First Floor, 16 Upper Woburn Place, London, WC1H 0AF
T: 0845 050 1953
E: supportercare@sueryder.org

Lets hope this all goes well.

Steve.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Any interest in this thread now??

I have not had one PM about this matter.

Is there any information as to Saffer Steve's contact details available for Sue Ryder that members are happy to divulge.

Is there any reason why no-one is commenting??

Please comment.

Steve.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

I haven't got any information about Saffer Steve at all, but I'm sure someone here has. I seem to remember someone posting that they had been in contact with him so the information must be here somewhere.

It's good to hear that the Sue Ryder charity will take the lenses and dispose of them on their web site, that has to be the easier answer rather than ebay. Selling cheap and common lenses is a nightmare, the good ones sell but the others don't. Martyn had a mixture, they might be slow selling.
Thank you for taking this on, we are watching and appreciating your efforts.

DigiChromeEd · Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3460 Location: Northern Ireland

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Thanks for that guys, I've not heard anymore from Sue Ryder so they maybe waiting to hear from me/us with any info we can give them.

So again, if anyone has any contact information please make it available so that this matter can be resolved.

Also, if Steve picks this up, would you let us know how you are mate.

Steve.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Sorry but I will keep bumping this thread.

Please contribute any info or...

anscochrome · Joined: 23 Dec 2010 Posts: 115 Location: Omaha, NE

cannot basic contact info be derived from this post? :

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Hi anscochrome, yes that info will help thank you.

I have just recieved Saffer Steves email address and mobile phone number via a pm from a member here and will be emailing Sue Ryder with this information along with a link to that post you quoted above.

I will post a copy of that email here later.

Steve.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Copy of my email to Sue Ryder.

Dear Paul, further to your email, I have asked for and gained some contact information for the gentleman that volunteered to collect and sell the 180 lenses in total on behalf of Martyn Bannister and hand the proceeds of these sales to Sue Ryder as per the last wish of Martyn.

I have sent you this information via a separate email as I will be posting a copy of this email onto MFL website http://forum.mflenses.com/martyns-lens-t61339,start,75.html. and obviously want to keep Saffer Steve’s details private.

Also I enclose a reference link to Martin Bannisters obituary which has other information you may be able to use.

Again if you read through the whole of the thread linked to, you will see that there is a lot of support and compassion for Saffer Steve and his family as there is obviously a major problem they are dealing with. But, we do feel the right thing needs to be done now and hope that your team will bear in mind the uncertainty of Steve’s situation and conclude this with care.

Best regards

Steve Taylor

vlousada · Joined: 11 Dec 2010 Posts: 345 Location: Portugal

Hopefully this will go as it should. Smile

Thank you for all the efforts you put on this matter.

I would be honoured to buy something from Martin's collection, so would appreciate that someone can put the information here regarding the sale at Sue Ryder.
Thanks.

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

Bump.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Still waiting for a reply to the above email from Sue Ryder. If I have had no contact by monday lunchtime i will send another email or maybe phone them again.

Steve.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Just phoned Paul Apenteng at Sue Ryder who is out of office until tomorrow so will phone him again then.

Steve.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Waited until 3.00 pm today for a reply and then phoned again. I then received this email from Paul Apenteng..

Supportercare Supportercare (sent by paul.apenteng@suerydercare.org)
3:57 PM (1 hour ago)

to me
Dear Steve,

Firstly, apologies for the delayed reply. I have been away from the office and my colleagues, rightly, thought it best to leave the matter to me as I have been working with you previously and it is a sensitive issue.

Thank you for conveying to the forum Sue Ryder's willingness to help and to your own determination to see these lenses sold as per Martyn's wishes. Given you, the forum, have a relationship with Steve and Data Protection protocol it would be brilliant if the forum could contact Steve directly and ask him to get in touch with us, or obtain his permission for us to contact him, so that we may arrange the collection and sell the lenses through our eBay store.

Also our eBay administrator asks that the forum advise us on the value of the lenses as it is always better to have expert knowledge to make sure we maximise the donation. Would this be something the forum would be happy to help with?

Kind Regards,
Paul

What are the thoughts of you other members.

Anyone want to put up a ball park valuation??.

Anyone want to contact Steve? If not, in the absence of someone more suitable, I will do it.

Advice please guys.

Steve

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

Steve: WHo better at this point to make contact? I understood that to be your offer. I had raised the subject to an issue when it went dormant, but may be seen as one of the less sensitive people towards the other Steve's "situation".

anscochrome · Joined: 23 Dec 2010 Posts: 115 Location: Omaha, NE

How do we even begin to put a value on the stuff? I would think if Sue Ryder is going to sell the lenses themselves, it would be on a European Ebay site, which would reflect what photographers in the continent would be willing to pay. A lot of the lenses would be considered downright junk in the United States, and would be lucky to pull 5 quid (ten US Dollars or thereabouts). I would say such valuation is up to U.K/Continental Europe members to decide.

GeorgeSalt · Joined: 09 Feb 2013 Posts: 336 Location: Norfolk, UK

Most of the list is no more highly valued on this side of the Atlantic, given the number of declared faults. One or two members have indicated that they consider a scant handful of the collection as being of value. Let's flag those up, and advise that the rest are listed with 99p starting bids as "spares or repair" and anything they raise should be viewed as a gain over the scrap value.

The charity should certainly avoid listing any of these lenses with Buy It Now prices (for non-UK members, we have a set of regulations in the UK called the Distance Selling Regulations, by using an auction listing a commercial seller can avoid "take backs"under a large number of circumstances).

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Hi again, I phoned the mobile number i was given for Saffer Steve earlier but it went straight to answer phone, I left a message basically confirming everything that has been posted on this thread but, leaving my home phone number for him to contact me personally if he did not want to post here.
I was in the throes of composing a post here moving on from that, when the phone rang...

It was Steve.

God bless him! he is going to deliver the remains of the collection plus all monies so far recieved plus, all his work done so farphotos etc, on a usb stick, to my house at about 8.30 pm tonight.

Steve came across as a lovely guy who has tried to do good and been obstructed by circumstance. In my opinion Steve and his wife both deserve the highest respect for their intent and all our best wishes for the way they tried to help Martyn.

I am very happy with this, the world is indeed full of the right people.

Value over values.

No contest is there Steve.

I look foreward to meeting you mate.

Very happy

Steve, bychance.

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Well done Steve, what a great result Smile

And thank you to the original Steve for trying.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Well, Steve has just left my house.
I can confirm catagoricaly that both he and his wife are beyond the genuine article.
Steve has left £260.00 in cash along with a usb stick with everything related to the sale of these lenses on it.
What a nice genuine, moral and thoroughly likeable man.

I didn't get Steves wifes name..

God bless you love, doing good is often the key to our own undoing because we care too much, some of us understand this and applaud where others may be blind or just unblessed.

On behalf of Martyn, his loved ones and friends, your part in the end of his affairs adds much to the meaning of all that is good.

Thank you Smile

Steve and the MFL forum.

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

Good news, I'm very happy to read these!

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

yes indeed. Smile

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

Sometimes life deals us a bad hand, we deal with it but often something has to give. If that's the situation Saffer Steve is in then that's OK. What he's done is more than the rest of us have done, he deserves our thanks for that, as does bychance Steve.
Many of us would like to offer practical help and support, but the truth is - maybe we can't - for any number of reasons. But that shouldn't stop either of you from asking. The hardest part of any problem is asking for help.
Thank you both. Cool

killwilly · Joined: 16 May 2011 Posts: 111 Location: United Kingdom

Do we have any idea when Sue Ryder will be listing the sale of the lenses on their eBay site and will we get a link posted here on the forum?

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Right, I have had a look at Sue riders eBay site; it’s awful, take a look!
They do not have a single photography item for sale anywhere... please correct me if I’m wrong.

I do not think they have the competence to sell this collection properly and this brings me to a concern that Saffer Steve voiced the other night. He worried that Martyns collection would be too much for a charity to sell individually and that there was a fear that the collection would be sold as a job lot to minimise administration but of course this could be a minimal sum perhaps less than a hundred quid.

I think most members here, including Martyn himself, would be appalled to see the better lenses in the collection go unrecognised and simply handed over in a job lot sale.
So, I propose the forum identifies the, say, fifty best lenses and that I set these aside for sale on this forum for say one month.
Anyone wishing to buy an item from this list to register a purchase on this thread and then send me an email confirming they will pay x amount for the specific item.
I will then insert that email with the bagged lens and at the end of say a month deliver all the residual ‘best lenses to Sue Ryder. That way they will receive a box of sold lenses with the delivery and contact details of all concerned and the best lenses would not have been buried in a job lot sale should that be the way they go.

This means I have minimal input and no involvement in packing, posting and accounting. I can take that on without it being a stress.

I think that Sue Ryder should collect all remaining lenses from me ASAP and that we should compose a price guide for them, perhaps based upon what George Salt recommended.
That way I hope there will be no job lot nonsense

There is a lot of crap with this collection as you can imagine, old lens cases, knackered lenses etc. I will be dumping this stuff.

There are a lot of old filters and adapters that I feel would be best disposed of via this site by a knowledgeable member either by sale or as freebies to site members that want or need them. I think Martyn would very much approve of this.
Please volunteer

There are a few old cameras in a big box that I do not have the expertise to assess. They look like shit to me but...
Advice please

I am not going to hand this collection over until I am happy that you lot are happy for me to do so, but I will not do what Saffer Steve attempted either, it was just too much, bless them.
I will see this done in a straight, true, blunt and quick manner as if I were dealing with my dads, brothers or best friends stuff.
After what Steve has done, we have an easy task simply assessing the worth of the collection based on his assessment of condition which I for one trust completely.

So, can we identify the best and most desirable please.

Steve.