Bid now for a great gift before your chance is going, going, gone

Published on Saturday 22 December 2007 18:50

EVER wanted to be named as a character in a best-selling novel, take part in the Tall Ships Race, learn to cook like a master chef or pop out to lunch with three friends in a helicopter?

Time is running out to bid for these once-in-a-lifetime experiences and gifts and do your bit for charity at the same time.

So far, Scotland on Sunday readers have bid more than 6,000 for a variety of stunning offers, which also include signed Rangers and Celtic shirts, a rugby ball signed by Scotland’s two Grand Slam-winning captains, the chance to see rock band James at Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange and a meal at Two Fat Ladies at the Buttery in Glasgow.

Today is your last chance to bid. The auction will close at midnight.

All the money raised through the auction as well as donations will go towards helping those in a far worse condition than ourselves as we prepare to enjoy Christmas.

Just 25 could help save the sight of up to five people in the Third World – allowing them a better chance of survival in harsh conditions and the ability to support their families.

Scotland on Sunday’s Christmas Appeal is to help British charity Sightsavers International in its fight to eradicate avoidable blindness by providing treatment and preventative drugs. A little money will go a long way.

The fundraising auction, run by QXL, was launched a fortnight ago, with final bids to be made by midnight tonight.

Bidders can join in today by logging on to www.scotlandonsunday.com, clicking on the Charity Auction box on the right-hand side of the screen. Minimum reserve bids on the lots are 25.

Hundreds of bids have already been placed for a range of exciting lots, including being a member of the crew in the Tall Ships Race, featuring as a character in a Christopher Brookmyre novel and a fabulous opportunity to get your child a place at the summer school run by the world-famous Gordonstoun School in Morayshire.

Top lot in terms of money at present is the opportunity for four people to fly by helicopter from Edinburgh to St Andrews for lunch at the clifftop St Andrews Bay resort.

The leading bid at the time of writing is 620.

The most popular item so far – with 92 bids – is Travel in Style, in which readers get the chance to parade around in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes for eight hours.

Some relative bargains still up for grabs include a Mabel designer handbag, currently at 205, the summer course at Gordonstoun School, standing at 230, and a made-to-measure cashmere sweater by top designer Belinda Robertson, at 140.

A star bargain still going begging is for a signed work by Mark Millar, the Scottish comic-book writer behind Ultimate X-Men, Marvel Knights, Spider-Man, The Ultimates and Civil War. He will sign the original manuscript for Wanted, the book that is being turned into a blockbuster movie starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy.

More unconventional gifts include a night with Scotland on Sunday columnist Hardeep Singh Kohli, in which he will cook for you and your friends in your own home, which is currently being bid for at 265.

Another is a Girlie Night In, in which the winner and a friend will spend a night at the five-star Cameron House Hotel, on the banks of Loch Lomond. The luxurious package will include breakfast, a manicure and full use of the thermal experience at the hotel’s new spa.

Another exclusive prize allows three golfers to play a round at the members-only Loch Lomond Golf Club.

In addition to the bidders, donors have included HBOS, Scottish and Newcastle, Optos, RMJM, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, Ernst & Young, Clydesdale Bank, IKEA Scotland, STV, Cisco Systems, Dobbies Garden Centres, VisitScotland, Q-Mass Ltd, King’s Theatre/Theatre Royal, Mainstream Publishing, KPMG, Scotsman Publications, Myhouseprice.com, Laing The Jeweller, The Media Shop Scotland, Ballogie Estate Enterprises, Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion, A S McLaren, Wester Keillour Farm, Capita Fiduciary Group, Community Equipment Service, Troup Bywaters and Anders, and the Property Management Department at the University of Stirling.

Schools taking part include Stanley Primary School, Wallace Hall Academy in Thornhill, Ancrum Primary School in the Borders, Kaimes School, Edinburgh, Dalgety Bay Primary School, Wallacetown Nursery School in Ayr, and Tynewater Primary School in Pathhead.

Sightsavers, which has a fundraising office in Edinburgh, has been the focus of Scotland on Sunday’s Christmas Appeal for the last three years.

Last month, Scotland on Sunday’s senior writer Jeremy Watson and award-winning photographer Robert Perry visited Sightsavers-supported projects in Tanzania to see how donations were spent.

In some villages in the east African country’s arid interior, up to half of the population – mainly women and children – are affected by trachoma, a conjunctivitis-type condition which can lead to blindness.

Yet funds are short for the tubes of ointment – costing just 50p – used to treat the condition, as well as for the simple 5 operations that will reverse trichiasis, the most severe form of the disease.

When trichiasis develops, the eyelids turn in on themselves and the cornea becomes scarred, effectively blinding the sufferer.

Trachoma, a bacterial infection, is spread by flies, and the lack of water in central Tanzania means it cannot be spared for basic hygiene, such as regularly washing children’s faces.

In some schools, children just need spectacles to allow them to take part in lessons in a nation where education can be a key to a better life.

Yet because the school, or their parents, cannot afford the risk of the glasses being broken, they have to be handed back to teachers at the end of lessons.