Every month our members tell us about the prizes they have won. From small wins to whopping £50,000 cash, we appreciate them all. Will you be our next winner? Join us today
I thought you’d like to see my winning photo for a Lidl competition to win a trip to the German Christmas markets a couple of years ago.
The prize trip was wonderfully snowy and atmospheric and Lidl were great hosts. My hubby was even up doing some lederhosen dancing! Fiona Haward, Exmouth. My slogan to accompany the photo was: “Ah, so now we know where Santa buys his gifts, with a Lidl elf from his friends.”
Back in March, our front cover featured a letter from Compers News member Beth Gerrard. We promised at the time to continue with Beth’s story in our Christmas issue – santa seemed a bit out of place in the spring! – so here’s the rest of her festive tale!
Beth’s prizes last year included £100 worth of Homebase vouchers and a week’s holiday, but her favourite prize was a trolley dash at Hamleys in Glasgow for her grandson Jackson which he took just before Christmas. “Jackson suff ers from dyspraxia and I didn’t think he would be able to collect many toys as he can’t run well and frequently trips and falls over, but Hamleys were absolutely wonderful and provided him with several of their elves to help out”, Beth told us earlier this year. “Both he and my daughter were overwhelmed by the warmth and generosity of the staff at the shop and the huge amount of toys he came away with, so many in fact that the family decided to donate some of them to a local children’s charity.”
Compers News members have reported these BIG prizes since our last issue!
1. £10,000 ‘First time experience’ from Visa
2. THREE luxury trips to Paris (Compers News members won every major prize in this Co-op competition!)
3. Another FIVE ‘Breathtaking Experiences’ from Trebor worth over £1,000 each
4. THREE £1,000 John Lewis vouchers from Persil
5. VIP family holiday to Disneyland Florida from Asda
And if you need even more encouragement, here is just a small selection of the other prizes our readers have told us about during the past month!
Family sleepover at the Natural History Museum, £1,000 Thomson holiday voucher, TWO £500 designer handbags, THREE £1,000 cash prizes from Walkers crisps, Champneys spa break worth £500, luxury trip to London worth over £1,000, treehouse adventure family break, £500 Asda gift card, 3D Smart TV worth £900, whale watching trip to Scotland, Silentnight deluxe bed, handmade suit worth £400, THREE iPads, bathroom suite, TWO luxury Barcelona breaks, £500 National Garden Gift Voucher, £1,000 cash, gourmet picnic hamper, plus LOTS of Dynamo magic kits from Morrisons & Pepsi, BBQs from Tesco & Hellmann’s, £100 fuel cards from Esso & Mars, family bowling tickets from Morrisons & Weetabix, trees from Yeo Valley and much, much more...
Compers News member Thelma Winyard recently enjoyed a weekend in Belfast with top chef Paul Rankin after winning a recipe competition featured on packs of his Irish soda bread!
"We met Paul Rankinon the Saturday evening at The Belfast Cookery School and he couldn’t have been nicer. He chatted to all the winners, asking us a bit about what had inspired our choices - my winning entry was a bruschetta. He recreated all the winning dishes, adding his own personal touch. So we were eating and drinking steadily for three delicious hours!
This spectacular evening came in the middle of a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. One of our hotel’s main attractions was that it was situated opposite The Crown Liquor Saloon, a renowned Victorian gin palace (or Guinness palace, according to your preference). This beautiful building is owned by the National Trust – the only pub they own, I understand. We also headed for Stormont, home to the Northern Ireland Assembly, were we spent a morning walking in the beautifully maintained gardens and woodland.
There is no way we could have afforded to go out for a meal such as was cooked for us by Paul Rankin. He turned my rather nice Irish Bruschetta into something sensational and I expect the other winners felt the same about their recipes. It was a dinner out of this world. All in all, it was an absolutely one-off evening and a memorable weekend. A unique prize. What a great hobby is comping. Where would we be without it?"
Lynne Buddin is not a cricket buff, but if she was to see just one match in her life it would have to be England v Australia at The Oval for the Ashes. Here she tells us about the day she nearly broke her cricket duck.
"Having won a pair of tickets including full hospitality courtesy of Marston’s beer, we were treated to great food and a wonderful view of the cricket pitch, the famous clock tower and London skyline, all washed down with as much beer as we could drink. All very useful while we waited for the rain to clear so that play could start. We were still waiting as mid-morning tea was served, and the rain was still falling as our delicious lunch was moved forward. Come late afternoon, and another deluge of rain had us shrugging as we enjoyed our cream teas.
What could we do? As play was abandoned for the day without a ball being bowled, I’ve still not broken my cricket duck. But at least I got to compare comping stories after meeting a fellow Compers News member."
Alison Walker wrote in to tell us about her Shopping Spree, compete with Personal Shopper!
"I have been comping since 2006 and after a particularly lean 2012 things have really picked up this year. I’ve won a balloon flight for two, an electric toothbrush along with £200 worth of Arcadia vouchers, Jazz Festival tickets and Fisher Price toys to name a few.
However, last month I finally won what I call a Biggie. A £2,000 shopping spree with a personal shopper at House of Fraser! I received the call on Thursday 12th September and, after calming down, agreed to meet with the promoters the following day to take my prize, which was to be filmed as part of London Fashion Week. My mum came with me and we were taken for a lovely Italian lunch and then my mum was looked after with endless cups of tea whilst I was made up and treated like a VIP! The timing was particularly good as I celebrated my 50th birthday just two days later. I spent nearly £700 on a designer coat, boots, shoes, dress and several smaller bits!
I check my Compers News immediately upon receipt and highlight any comps that I consider unmissable and enter them as soon as I can. Comping is a brilliant hobby, fun and so rewarding when you win, particularly when you can share your prize with family like I did with this great day."
Angela Moore tells us about how she won a trip to Wimbledon and witnessed a moment in sporting history.
"It’s always been my wish to go to Wimbledon and this year I made a real effort to enter competitions to win tickets. So when I won a trip to the Men’s Junior and Veteran’s Finals with my local paper, including an overnight hotel stay followed by a day out at Windsor, I was delighted!
As the day got closer I watched every match on TV in the hope that Andy Murray would make it through to the final. I never imagined I would be there to join in a moment of sporting history. The atmosphere during the day was electric, and standing right in front of Andy Murray when he came out to lift aloft the trophy to the crowd is something I will remember for years to come. I may not have been on Centre Court but I enjoyed a day of amazing tennis and can’t wait to go again."
