Comp Pride 2007:
Comping Event Report

WOW! What an amazing time we had with over 300 compers at our sell-out Comp Pride event at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday 14th July. Even the sun shone on us!

On a damp, dismal January day the Comp Pride team held their first meeting to set the ball rolling. What we didn't know at the time was that this would turn out to be one of the biggest one day comping events ever held in the UK. It certainly didn't begin with that intention; it sort of grew and grew! The team comprised of a group of Derby, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire compers. We were extremely fortunate in having the backing of Accolade, publishers of Prize Draw Winner, and Steve Middleton, our co-editor, to help us.

We were all veterans of comping days so had some ideas as to what might work for us and the enthusiasm to carry it along. The main beneficiary of the day was to be Rainbows - the East Midlands Children's Hospice which we planned on supporting through selling tickets for the main raffle and collecting toys both for the hospice and their chain of charity shops. We also wanted to help The Derby Breathe Easy Support Group, of which I'm a member, by collecting books, CDs, DVDs and videos for them to sell to raise funds at the monthly stall in the hospital corridor where we receive our treatment. Breathe Easy helps people like me with chronic, incurable lung conditions.

Spring saw a frantic bust of activity with everything starting to take shape and the prizes beginning to roll in. We had decided to try not to spend any money on raffle prizes. If everything was donated then every penny spent on tickets would be profit for Rainbows. The thought of the children spurred us on to make the raffle a success.

On the Tuesday before the event we spent the whole day making up goody bags for everyone and fine-tuning the day's timetable. On the Friday afternoon fellow PDW columnist, Jane Willis, came to our house armed with entry forms and goodies but we didn't stay chatting for long. Jane took a call on her mobile advising her she'd won a prize in one of the recent Coke comps, then it was over to Pride Park to begin setting out the room along with all the prizes which Marie had spent hours wrapping. Marie also made all the beautiful hampers for our lucky winners. It turned out to be a late night with the entire team working hard ready for the next day.

Jane and I were up early Saturday morning, called for Yvonne, my friend, and we drove over to Pride Park to meet Tony and Pat from Breathe Easy who had come to set their stall up ready for donations. Pat couldn't stay for the event but took home with her a whole car load of donations from the Comp Pride organising team, and that was before a single comper had walked through the door! The rest of the Breathe Easy team who turned up to help were VERY pleased.

The activity became frantic as last minute jobs were done. Excitement was building in the room, a voice was counting down the time to opening and we peeped out of the window to watch the queue forming... then we were off! The security guard later said he'd never seen anything like it once the doors opened! It was a hectic hour welcoming everyone, showing people to their seats and telling them where everything was. Vic, who was running the Rainbows collection, was almost buried under a sea of toys. Tony and his Breathe Easy Team were overwhelmed at the number of donations, many of them brand new. One very kind comper had collected everything suitable left over from their school fete the previous day and handed it over with a smile. The generous people who donated to either of these causes were given one raffle ticket for each item they'd brought along and two lucky winners took home a hamper each.

Tony took home 27 boxes full of donations, a whole year's worth in just two hours. Good job he has a Transit van! He gave an interesting and humorous account of the morning to the Breathe Easy meeting the following week. He said he just couldn't believe the generosity of everyone and how friendly the compers were.

Claire and Elaine spent a hectic morning selling raffle tickets, along with anyone else on the team they could rope in. The amazing prizes and the great cause had most people spending! With prizes like an SCS Sofa voucher for £500, three caravan hoIidays, a spa day, a Denby dinner service, Hoover tumble drier, cases of wine, books, toys, cosmetics, meals out and attraction tickets to name but a few of the 200-plus on offer, there was plenty of temptation!

Steve, like Vic, was buried! This time it was under a mountain of entry forms which went in boxes to go on all the tables over lunchtime. Before 10.30 the noise rose to a crescendo as friends met up and new friendships were struck. there was a great debate in the room, as there had been interest in the press regarding our "HOW MUCH?!!" competition. We'd asked everyone to fill in a slip, anonymously, with their total prize value won from comping and then asked them to estimate the total of prizes won in the room. As far as we know this hadn't been done before. The total was over £9,000,000 and would probably have hit the £10,000,000 mark if everyone had remembered to enter! Another brand new attraction was "The Vortex." For those old enough to remember, think Crystal Maze – but with a machine large for your hands, but not your whole body! Lucky contestants were drawn out every hour, and the overall winner walked off with £150 Kingfisher vouchers - another generous Accolade donation.

We started the day with over seventy winners as we'd hidden small Purple Ronnie gift bags inside some of the goody bags which Julie and Marie, our greeters, handed out. Di, our MC, asked everyone to look inside their goody bags for a Purple Ronnie bag and, if they had one, to wave it in the air. There was much puzzlement as everyone looked round at all the bags, most tables had one or two and some had more. Julie, Marie and other runners dashed round and gave the surprised bag owners a large Purple Ronnie bag filled with greetings cards, stationery, books and small gifts! We'd started the day with a bang!

Our runners then began handing out the first table quiz; 'Music, Music, Music' where we asked every table to work as a team to name as many songs as they could, with either girls names, body parts, love, colours or places in the titles. I heard later that people went to bed that night with songs stilI buzzing round in their heads! The next table quiz was about animals in literature, nursery rhymes and films. We also held a cash bingo session generously sponsored by BingoLoopy.com during which Marie was the VERY amusing caller fishing the balls from a bright pink handbag! A celebrity photo quiz was held before lunch and this too had people scratching their heads.

The buffet lunch was absolutely delicious along with the yummy cakes that were served with tea and coffee after which we held an "Ask the Expert" session. The team comprised of Steve, Jane, Di and me, answering questions that had been put to us by the attendees. All the people who had submitted a question had their names put into a raffle, with the chance to win a prize whether we'd had time to answer their question or not.

The afternoon had more rounds of The Vortex, three sessions of the Rainbows raffle and quiz results before we gave the stage over to Paula, our local Rainbows representative. Paula gave an extremely moving short talk on the work of the hospice before being presented with a large cheque for the amazing sum of over £3,200. The ladies of the Comp Pride team were then extremely touched as they were each presented with a magnificent bouquet for all their hard work in organising the event.

The last round of The Vortex took place before the grand finale, the raffle drawing for the top prizes. All too soon everyone was saying their goodbyes to friends old and new before heading off home. It had been a BRILLIANT day, a huge success from our charities points of view and for all the compers who came along. It was great to meet lots of our PDW readers, many of whom I already knew and all the people I hadn't met before but recognised me from the magazine. Thank you to everyone who stopped to chat with such kind words about the magazine and my column. They meant a great deal to me. Thank you, too, to everyone who has been in touch with lovely comments about how much they enjoyed their day. The funniest one told us her only disappointment was that the day had ended and she had to go home!

It was the first time any of us had organised a comping day. I hope it won't be the last. In spite of all the hard work we had a great deal of fun, so much was achieved on behalf of our chosen charities and everyone who came along is asking us when the next one will be! So watch this space!

Report compiled by Pam Crampton

Prize Draw Winner contributor