THEY queued eager, excited and expectant, with their cherished heirlooms in cardboard boxes and supermarket carrier bags.

The event? A special antiques valuation day at Chorley's Astley Hall, with Eric Knowles from BBC television's Antiques Roadshow giving his expert advice.

It was warm and muggy, but hundreds of local folk filed through the corridors and rooms of the historic building -- to discover what grandma had handed down to them and how much it was worth.

Clocks, paintings, tea sets, dolls, vases, figurines and more. They were all there.

Eric and two other experts, general valuers Henrietta Graham, for the North Yorkshire area, and Chris Surfleet, for Cheshire and Lancashire, delivered their verdicts, at a small table with long queues before them.

One Brinscall couple had carted along a painting, clock, doll -- and a zither, a musical instrument consisting of a number of strings stretched over a flat box.

Their turn was soon soon to come. Chris, as she just asked to be known, explained: "The zither belonged to my grandfather originally. Where it came form prior to that, I don't know.

"And my dad was 86 when he died so it might be a lot older than that."

The doll? "I don't think it's worth anything, really. We're just curious as to what its origin was.

The Burys, of Eccleston, had just visited Eric's table with their precious pieces.

"They're items of royal commemorative china which we collect," said Mr Bury.

"We were given very positive valuations by Eric Knowles. I think he was quite impressed. We had a rough idea how much they were worth. I would say it was up to expectations." Fiona Emery, of Lostock Hall, had also had a valuation from Eric. She had brought mounted stag's head ceramic pieces, but was disappointed to hear "bits had broken off".

"They are my mum's and have come down from the family. He said they were from the 1930s. I'm more disappointed for my mum than for me," she said.

Eric Snape, of Farm Avenue, Adlington, went along with his wife Glennis.

Eric, vice-chairman of the Chorley and District Nissan Sunday Football League, had a number of objects, including two porcelain Austrian/German female figurines -- one was valued at £40, the other £50.

Eric Knowles informed that they should have been accompanied by males and joked that "they have either been widowed or jilted!"

Glennis said: "I've enjoyed it. Everybody's curious. You think because it's old it's valuable."

As for Chris from Brinscall -- remember, the zither woman? Well, she was still waiting for info on that, and the doll.

But she had the painting had been valued at between £60 and £70 and the clock at about £300.

"The clock was a reproduction and the painting was original, but only a print," she said.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, including Bonhams and Brooks, the London-based firm of auctioneers behind the event.

Regional administrator Louise Allison said: "We put these on around the country about once or twice a month.

"We've found this one's a good one.

"I came up about 9.30am and there were people queuing outside then and about 10.45am they were quite far down the path."

The firm returns to stage another valuation day, again with Eric Knowles, at Hoghton Tower on September 18.