WHEN TV's Cash in the Attic team visited a Sidmouth couple to turn their car boot treasures into cash, Cynthia and Bill Cassar were hoping to raise £500 for a fishing trip.

WHEN TV's Cash in the Attic team visited a Sidmouth couple to turn their car boot treasures into cash, Cynthia and Bill Cassar were hoping to raise £500 for a fishing trip.

Instead, as viewers of the BBC 1 programme saw on Monday, the couple, from Ashley Crescent, made more than double that, raising £1,236.

Cynthia, 61, is secretary of Sidmouth Fishing Club and wanted to raise money to treat her husband of 10 years to a fishing trip.

With 19 grandchildren, she decided to sell the little treasures she had bought at car boot sales, rather than try to divide them up, and applied to have the Cash in the Attic team round to help.

Presenter Jennie Bond and expert Jonty Hearnden helped select items to put into auction in Crewkerne, spending the day with their crew filming at the couple's home last September.

"We put stuff out we wanted to sell and sent in a photo to the programme and they said they were interested in making one from here," said Cynthia, whose phone kept ringing during the programme as friends saw them on TV (pictured).

Among the items was a collection of Goss and Crestware gathered over 28 years, and silver bought from car boot sales.

But it was an art deco silver picture frame that was star of the show; it had been given to Cynthia by an elderly lady, Mavis, for setting her hair. It raised £250, more than double the estimate.

"They were dust collectors, but I was surprised at how much they were worth," said Bill, 63, whose own find, an ivory parasol handle, sold for £80, twice the lower estimate.

With all the knick-knacks sold, more money was made by selling the cabinet they lived in.

They returned home today (Friday) from a few days' break in Brixham to allow Cynthia to rest from a knee operation she had five weeks ago and hope to fix that fishing trip and a holiday abroad with their cash from the attic.