Collecting: Going to work on an egg cup: A simple yet creative charitable challenge has attracted hundreds of celebrities - and sent Norman Willis on a flight of fancy, writes John Windsor

Margaret and Dennis have sent theirs. John and Norma have, too. Lord Callaghan signed his, apologising for not being an artist, but Ted Heath drew a yacht and a tree. As for Norman Willis's - well, his seems to have got a little out of hand . . .

The general secretary of the TUC was among 1,000 politicians, actors, sportsmen, artists and other celebrities who received a 23p wooden egg cup, a stamped, addressed Jiffy bag and a plea for a signed, 'personally decorated effort' to be auctioned in aid of Winchester Health Authority's art and environment programme.

Like other well-known figures, Mr Willis has had his share of charity requests. His usual response is a witty pen-and-watercolour showing a distant horizon, a lowering sky, and a silhouetted character with bowler hat and suitcase holding a brightly coloured balloon. Title: Balloon Salesman in Siberia.

These days, most celebs simply refuse. But already, two weeks before the 'egg cup haggle' - part of a charity auction, devoted entirely to vessels, at Winchester College on Saturday 25 July - 300 well-known people have sent in their efforts.

Lord Archer (his was the first to arrive) did a rather angry-looking multicoloured abstract. Ken Livingstone and Lester Piggott both did four- legged things (you would not believe a horse and a newt could look so similar). Dame Barbara Cartland swathed hers in pink frills.

Terry Wogan's looks as if Zandra Rhodes had a hand in it. (She didn't; she made her own.) The television presenter Jeremy Paxman persuaded his Newsnight graphics team to make a tiny wire cage to contain the cup for a punning 'bad egg'. Peter Scudamore, the champion jockey, simply turned his over to his portraitist, Alex Charles- Jones.

As for Mr Willis - a Sunday morning artist who reckons his offering, Ducking Stool, heralds the dawn of his epoxy-resin period - he explains: 'I was not sure that the egg cup was a big enough canvas for my ambitions. So I decided to seek inspiration in charity shops, of which I am a great customer. What came up was three yellow plastic ducks and a three-legged stool. Then I was surprised to find a duck in the shape of a candle, which I put in the egg cup.

'There is a theory that great works of art are based on accident so I now feel able to move on to my next artistic phase. Painting is no longer adequately expressive.'

The biggest commission bid on a decorated egg cup is a Hampshire businessman's pounds 100 on Arthur Scargill's, which Katie Clemson and Sarah Hosking, the health authority arts co-ordinators who dreamed up the auction, are expecting any day now. They have received bids of pounds 25 on the egg cup bearing the artist Phillip Sutton's self-portrait, pounds 10 for Terry Wogan's and pounds 10 for Jeremy Paxman's.

Secrets of a successful charity auction? Apart from the originality of the egg cup idea - 'I do think you are clever,' Dame Barbara Cartland wrote - many of the recipients seem to have twigged that this is in-house NHS fund- raising. The job of the two co-ordinators is to bring art into hospital environments as dour as Broadmoor. Mr Willis said: 'I was glad to be asked. The idea of making these caring places pleasant and interesting and alive through art is something that we could do a lot more about.'

Most consistent refusers are successful artists - busy, often travelling abroad, and reluctant to allow ill-considered daubs on to the market. But for some reason, the sight of an egg cup did not appeal to Edwina Currie, either. 'No, sorry,' she wrote.

As for prime ministers, past and present, how could they refuse? Like Lord Callaghan, the Thatchers and the Majors, lacking time or talent or both, merely signed their egg cups. No scope for the psychological analyst there.

Others seem to have put their heart on their cup. Jilly Cooper sent back hers adorned with hounds and horses and a note: '. . . actually (it) has been done by Leo but I did a bit of scribbling on it'. Then: 'PS. Actually I did it myself. After all, it's so badly drawn. X lots of love.' There's more to these egg cups than meets the eye.

The main auction - of bedpans, wartime vacuum flasks, Georgian wine glasses and other curios - includes 100 vessels sent for auction by living makers, especially potters. The negotiated commissions earmarked for charity range from 10 to 90 per cent.

Few have been donated. Which is hardly surprising considering that, only a couple of years ago, potters' waiting lists would have ensured that no pots were offered at all. Now, Ms Hosking found, potters are glad of an outlet. She will be offering a big, craggy Ewen Henderson pot of the kind that regularly makes four figures at auction.

Nicholas Bonham, of Bonham's, the London auctioneers, will be auctioneer at the egg cup haggle, 2pm-4pm (viewing from 12 noon). Champagne reception and string quartet 5.30pm, entry pounds 5. Vessel auction, 6.30pm. Further information and tickets for auction: Katie Clemson (0703 812273).

(Photographs omitted)