Last-minute bids push charity auction total over £8,000 mark

Published on Saturday 29 December 2007 20:53

SCOTLAND on Sunday's Christmas Appeal online auction has raised more than £8,000, thanks to the generosity of readers.

A flurry of last-minute bidding took the total above the amount raised in a similar exercise last year to provide funds for the British charity Sightsavers International.

The top lot this year, raising 610, was the chance for three golfers to play a round at the exclusive Loch Lomond course.

A helicopter trip for four to the St Andrews Bay resort, including lunch, also proved popular, with the winning bid reaching 600.

Someone needing good publicity bid 470 to have their image polished by Platform PR, and many bidders wanted to make their mark on literature by being written in as a character in a Christopher Brookmyre novel. The price of immortality was 455.

Four people are in for a riotous evening after bagging Scotland on Sunday columnist Hardeep Singh Kohli for 415. He promises to cook and entertain but not necessarily at the same time.

Fashionistas, meanwhile, pushed the bidding up to 310 for Mulberry's iconic Mabel bag, and The Girlie Night In at the Cameron House Hotel on Loch Lomond raised 255.

Of the 58 lots offered, however, the one that attracted most bids was the chance to have a portrait photograph taken by one of Scotland on Sunday's award-winning staff photographers. Almost 100 bids were logged by online auction company QXL and the winner paid 160.

The money raised by the auction will be added to the donations that have been made directly to Sightsavers International and the results of our inaugural Bring 50p to Work Day, in which companies and organisations were asked to hold a fund-raising day. All who took part will be credited in the newspaper and donors this week include the Practice Education Unit (NHS Lothian) and the Group Purchasing Department (Royal Bank of Scotland).

The money raised will help Sightsavers prevent blindness in eye-care projects around the world. Last month, Scotland on Sunday highlighted projects in Tanzania, where in some remote villages up to half the population are suffering from the eye condition trachoma, partly because of the lack of funds for prevention and treatment.

Caroline Harper, Sightsavers' chief executive, said: "We're absolutely thrilled by the generous support shown by individuals and companies alike this year and can't thank Scotland on Sunday enough for its continued commitment to prevent people in poorer parts of the world going needlessly blind."

Donations can still be made directly to Room SOSO7, Sightsavers International, PO Box 17160, Edinburgh, EH12 6WF or by calling the 24-hour donation line (0800 0892020), quoting ref SOSO7, or by visiting www.sightsavers.org