Swap Shopper: Open to offers again for £2,000 party voucher

3:30pm Sunday 9th November 2008

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LEWIS Hamilton may have raced to victory on the last bend but my Swap Shopper challenge has stalled on the home straight. I now need a push from the readers of News Shopper to finally finish my mission.

Until a fortnight ago I thought I was about to secure a happy ending to my challenge.

I had been in discussions with a man called James for some time - hence the lower profile for Swap Shopper recently - and I was just waiting for a definite yes from him to make my final trade happen.

James and his fiancée are getting married abroad and want to hold a big bash in this country for family and friends.

He had been very interesting in making the £1,000 charity donation to complete my Swap Shopper mission in exchange for the £2,000 Beaumont marquee voucher which I had put up for grabs.

Sadly, an email from James arrived while I was off last week telling me he has decided to pull out.

This is the second time my hopes of reaching my £1,000 charity goal have been dashed.

I’m very disappointed - but I now want to try and make it third time lucky.

When I first offered the £2,000 party voucher as a swap a few weeks ago I received several very tempting offers.

The others ranged from a pair of earrings up to £500 cash. But the offer from James was the stand-out one because he had proposed stumping up the full £1,000 I want to raise for charity.

Because the swap with him is not going ahead, I’ve had to make a decision today - accept a lower offer or go back to square one and try again.

Because none of the other offers quite hit the mark and because I’m still determined to hit the target of raising a grand for a good cause, I’ve decided to wipe the board clean and start from scratch with this trade.

So, let’s go back to the beginning.

Swap Shopper: The story so far

Back in July I came up with the wacky and somewhat stupid idea of swapping a humble News Shopper keyring for £1,000.

I planned to do this by starting a swap chain - swapping the keyring for something else and then continuing to swap bigger and better items until I eventually had something which would be worth someone ‘swapping’ me £1,000 for.

The money would be given to a charity of my final swapper’s choice.

The keyring proved very enticing to people, with offers flooding in. It was swapped very quickly for a year’s membership with Bexley Archaeology Group.

This was then traded for two tickets to see Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley in concert.

Luck then shone on Swap Shopper and I was able to upgrade the tickets to include the chance to also meet Tony Hadley.

It was at this stage that I first thought I would complete my challenge.

A lady from America offered me the full £1,000 in exchange for the Tony meet-and-greet experience. Unfortunately, she then withdrew her offer.

Down but not beaten, I carried on - and the challenge took another brilliant twist in September when Bromley-based marquee hire and events company Beaumont offered me a £2,000 voucher for the Tony Hadley swap.

Some really lovely, touching offers came in for the Beaumont voucher with some people wanting to put on some very special events.

James’s offer was the pick of the bunch and I hoped, for a second time, that my challenge would be completed by James making a £1,000 donation to his favourite charity in exchange for the £2,000 voucher.

It was not meant to be though and so the party voucher is back up for grabs – and I’m once again open to offers for it.

The £2,000 party voucher could be yours

You will need to provide somewhere for the marquee to go but you can choose what sort of event you want to stage and when, between now and the end of next year.

The vast sum of £2,000 could get you the wedding reception you've always wanted, a lavish party for friends and family, a corporate event, a celebration for your sports club - anything at all.

You'll be well looked after when you use Beaumont’s services and you'll be in illustrious company, with numerous celebrities using the company in the past.

I still want to raise at least £1,000 for charity so you could make a straight cash offer in exchange for the Beaumont voucher.

Or you could offer another item, product or service to trade with me to keep my bigger-and-better swap chain going.

To make an offer for the £2,000 voucher contact me on email at sbull@london.newsquest.co.uk or call me on 01689 885713.

You can also now TEXT me your offers. Put the keyword SWAP, then a space, and send your messages to 80360. Each text message is free, but your normal operator charge will apply.