LAZY tea drinkers looking for an easier way to grab their morning cuppa could have their pick of an entire room of teasmades collected by Royal Wootton Bassett archivist Sheridan Parsons.

The 54-year-old caused a stir yesterday(oct14) when she posted her collection of nearly 200 bedside automatic tea makers on online auction and shopping site eBay.com, because she will no longer have room for them once she downsizes her home.

The mum-of-10, who has collected the teasmades for more than 15 years, plans to move from a 10-bedroom High Street home to a two-and-a-half bedroom property, and will no longer have the space to keep them.

“I’m auctioning them because where we live at the moment is very big, and we’re downsizing to a smaller house,” she said.

“It also seemed like the right time to let them go.

“I'm keeping the six best and all the research and paperwork associated with them, but the actual teasmades themselves are going up for auction.”

Proceeds from the auction – which has an opening bid of 99p – will go to the Royal Voluntary Service, where Sheridan volunteers working on the archives.

“I know I’ll get at least 99p,” she said.

“I started volunteering at the Royal Voluntary Service in their archives and I’m very interested in the organisation and the work they do and wanted to support them.

“It’s also in memory of another teasmade collector, John Atack. His widow very kindly let me have his collection of teasmades when he died.”

Mrs Parsons began collecting the tea-making machines, which reached the peak of popularity in the 1960s and 70s, and over the years she has boosted her collection to 172.

“I started as most collections do with just one,” said Mrs Parsons. “I got it because I quite fancied a teasmade. My husband wasn’t so keen, but I was feeling a little rebellious and went out and got one.

“Then I would spot another model or one I liked the look of.

“Over the past 15 years it’s taken on a life of its own really.

“At the time I thought there were only 20 or 30 models so I never thought the collection would be particularly big.”

Despite her extensive collection, Mrs Parsons doesn’t actually use a teasmade, much to the surprise of other collectors and interested parties.

“It’s important to say I’m not a technical person, I haven’t done any of them up to make sure they work, and I don’t actually use one,” she said.

“What's actually the most interesting thing to me about them is their history and the inventors who made them rather than the teasmades themselves.”

Among the collection is a 1932 Absolon model, a rare 1936 Goblin and others including a Russell Hobbs 6501.

The auction on eBay.com will last 10 days and closes on October 24.

To see what is on offer, search for ‘biggest teasmade collection in the world charity auction’ on eBay.