Fiona Bruce 'delighted' as she brings BBC One's Antiques Roadshow to Sussex

Set in the grounds of Battle Abbey, the crowds brought an estimated 15,000 items in the hope of making it onto one of two Antiques Roadshow programmes filmed on Tuesday. Speaking after a period of filming, presenter of 12 years Fiona Bruce, said: "I'm delighted to be in Battle. "We have seen some really fantastic things, including a guitar which used to belong to George Harrison. We've had a few items relating to the Beatles actually. "It has been a wonderful day. The weather has been great and the people have come out in numbers. I'm not sure why bringing filming to Battle has brought everyone out but it has." On a visit to Battle for the day, the newsreader and Question Time host, said she was enjoying her first visit to the Battle Abbey School and the ruins. She added: "I went out onto the battlefield earlier and fired a longbow. I missed my target but I was reliably informed that during the Battle of Hastings there were lots of people on the battlefield so it was likely I would have hit someone." With some people queuing outside from 6am, the gates to Battle Abbey officially opened at 9.30am and closed at 5pm. Approximately 4,000 people from across Sussex and the South East were thought to have attended the free event, bringing roughly 15,000 items with them to be valued by an expert. Andy McConnell, a glass expert on the show, who has lived in Rye for 40 years, added: “It was fantastic. It was so nice to have it local. I could have breakfast at home before leaving and I knew about 20 per cent of the people who turned up. “We had bout 6,000 people there which has been pretty standard for us over the past four years. “People have this obsession that it’s all just about money but it’s so far from that. It’s much more about learning what people have got and what it means. “Usually it’s an item belonging to a loved one so it’s difficult for people if they feel like they should sell it and lose a part of them.” A whole range of items had been seen, including a large sculpture of a tiger and glass art originating from China. The first of the two programmes filmed on Tuesday (July 9) is due to air in the winter with the second expected in the spring next year. Approximately 50 to 60 items are set to be included in the shows. Over the past 41 years, Antiques Roadshow has visited 594 different venues and the show has been abroad 11 countries. Around ten million objects have been brought to be valued and of those around 24,000 have been filmed.