Eric Clapton drug centre to win Leica M8 funds UPDATED 29 MAY 2008

www.amateurphotographer.co.uk:

UPDATED 29 MAY 2008: Clapton charity to miss out on Leica M8 cash (update)

A drug and alcohol addiction recovery centre founded by music legend Eric Clapton is set to benefit from the sale of an historic Leica digital camera on 7 June.

Proceeds from the sale of the first Leica M8 camera ever made will be donated to the Crossroads Center in the Caribbean, said a spokesman for the Westlicht Photographica Auction in Vienna, Austria.
Auctioneers estimate that the 10.3-million-pixel camera will fetch up to €30,000 (around £24,000).

The auction house told us that a charity founded by Bob Geldof had initially been considered, but the German camera maker instead turned to Clapton who is described as a Leica camera 'fanatic'.

Located in Antigua, the Crossroads Center is a 36-bed residential facility set up by Clapton in 1997.

On the centre's website Clapton states: 'As a recovering addict and alcoholic, many people over the years spoke to me about the problems associated with drug and alcohol abuse on the islands. Subsequently, around 1993, I began to speak with more and more people about the possibility of founding a centre on the island for the treatment of drug and alcohol addiction.'