Three cheers for the winners!

There must be something in the air this week - there have been so many lovely wins around.

In the last 24 hours I have heard from friends, Grape Vine readers and Twitter friends who have won

a three-city trip of a lifetime
a trip to the World Cup with the winner's son to carry the flag at a match
£1,000 cash
a spa break
£750 cash
a widescreen TV
a break in London

Well done to all of you, what an inspiration! I've had a few wins of my own too: yesterday a paperback book and some perfume, today a bundle of children's books and a Nintendo Wii, the latter being from the text competition on Robinson's drinks.

I've had another hunt for new competitions and once again come home loaded with them, however I as disappointed to find one "new" form I'd picked up had a closing date of January 31st.

If you have a cat or a dog, get over to your nearest branch of Pets at Home to pick up an entry form with a chance to win a £100 voucher and a year's supply of Frontline flea control. There are 10 runners up prizes of a year's supply of Frontline. Your entry needs to be posted in the in-store box. The closing date is not given but the competition is promoting National Flea Month so it probably closes at the end of May.

Come to a Comping Day in Cardiff!

If you are not familiar with the London Competitors Club, you may be a little surprised to learn that they are having a comping day in Cardiff, but in fact members come from all over Britain and meetings are occasionally held in other areas.

This year's "out of town" meeting is to be in Cardiff on Saturday September 25th, and there are a limited number of tickets available for non-members to come along and enjoy a whole day of comping.

Tickets are priced at £30each. This will include all your competitions on the day, tea/coffee/biscuits,buffet lunch, tea and Welsh cakes etc. There will be lucky ticket draws, a postcard draw, a raffle for competition related prizes and the Red Dragon Raffle which will be raising funds for the Stepping Stones Appeal at the Velindre Cancer Centre (registered charity number: 1052501). Dr Jason Lester, who has pioneered this appeal, will be coming along to talk about the invaluable research into and treatment of lung cancer which is the UK's biggest - and most neglected - cancer killer (and it does not just affect those who smoke).

There are lots of great prizes to be won on the day including the chance to win a visit to the set of the ITV drama, Midsomer Murders, where you will spend the day watching the filming of the show and have breakfast and lunch with the cast!

The venue is the Future Inns Hotel in Cardiff Bay and the day will runfrom 9am-5pm. There is free parking at the hotel and easy access for disabled members.

If you need further details or would like to book ttickets, please email the Membership Secretary with the subject "Cardiff".

Rambling Around Reading

This week's search for new competitions was based on Reading town centre where the Oracle and Broad Street Malls as well as the main shopping streets have a huge range of shops, and there are numerous out of town retail parks and supermarkets. I came home with no fewer than eighteen new competitions, most of which you will be able to read about in Grape Vine or the update. But a few of them close so soon that there is no time to waste, so here is a quick roundup of the "must hurry" ones.

Superdrug and Vaseline have a pair of tickets to the Glamour Woman of the Year Awards to be won at www.vaselinesheerinfusion.co.uk/glamourcomp closing 11 May.

Debenhams Beauty Magazine has a tear-out page inside the back cover, with three entry forms to complete and hand in. The prizes are a trip to Los Angeles, a year's supply of Benefit makeup and 3 x a pair of Grandstand tickets to Royal Ascot. All three close on 17 May and you need tobe a member of Debenhams Beauty Club (free to join) and give your card number on your entry.

French Connection stores have a small leaflet that directs you to www.frenchconnection.com/ironman2 for a chance to win a 3 day trip to Monte Carlo, flying in by helicopter and staying in a top hotel with a meal at one of the top restaurants. The winner will also get a goody bag full of Iron Man 2 memorabilia and goody bags also go to 5 runners up. But you'll need to hurry- the competition closes on 09 May.

Comping at Chelsea - the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Big shows and exhibitions can be great places for compers, and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is no exception. Not only will you see gorgeous gardens, fabulous flowers and lots of great gardening ideas, but you will also find that lots of the stalls run competitions to win anything from garden tools to garden makeovers, and from sheds to sit-and-ride mowers. This year the show takes place in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea from 25-29 May.

A few tips for any comper visiting a show:

• Wear your most comfortable shoes and dress in layers. This is particularly important at Chelsea where some of the marquees can get very hot.



• Take a big bag for all the leaflets, brochures and of course competition entry forms you pick up. A shopping trolley on wheels will save you a lot of arm-ache.



• Make sure you have several pens handy as you are sure to leave one or two lying around after filling in entry forms.



• If you have some small printed address labels, they can save you a lot of time and mean you don't always have to hunt round for a flat surface to write on.



• Some stalls now ask you to drop a business card into a box instead of filling in a form. If you don't have a card, or would rather not mix business with pleasure, there are several websites which will print busienss-card sized cards with your contact details on them, or you can buy sheets of plain white ones from stationery shops, which you can print yourself on your home printer.



• Be prepared for lots of follow up calls and mail. And don't dismiss them out of hand - you might find not only further competitions but lots of great offers and ideas.

A great way to visit any show is to win tickets for it, and Love The Garden are giving you the chance to win some very special tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show. The prize is a pair of Breakfast Tickets for May 24th, the day before the general public is allowed in, when all the displays will be at their absolute best. The winners will be allwed in at 7am, before even the RHS members, and will have an escorted tour of the show and breakfast. To enter the competition, pop over to their site and answer a simple question - but hurry, the competition closes on May 13th.

Wednesday's Wander

I've been out looking for new competitions for the next issue of Grape Vine today. While I was out I took a call on my mobile telling me I have won an England shirt in a recent Mars text competition, and when I got home the first issue of a prize subscription to a needlework magazine was waiting for me.

I picked up the latest Waitrose magazine and found a couple of text entry competitions in Martins newsagent - details of all those will be in the next Grape Vine update. And then I found this competitoin in Argos, which you will want to start entering as soon as possible asthere are prizes to be won every week.

Argos “Get ready for football fever” booklet directs you to www.worldtruck.co.uk to win “the World Truck”, but actually there is more to it than that! The top prize is the contents of the truck, worth £5,000 but the winner gets £5,000 worth of Argos vouchers and the contents displayed on the website will be donated to charity. After entering the draw you will have a chance to nominate a charity (the space provided for your nomination is very small). To enter this part of the comp, click on “Win the World Truck” on the right of the page. Closing 13 Jul.

There is also one 42” television to be won every week with closing dates from 11 May to 13 Jul. To enter this part of the comp, click on “Where’s the World Truck?” and give a postcode. The nearest guess to where the delivery lorry was at a particular (not announced) time each Wednesday will win. You will need to enter separately for each week’s competition.

Finally there are 100 vouchers for a football lesson for one, for 6 month - 4 year olds or 5 -18 year olds, to be won every week. To enter this part of the comp, click on “play” at the top of the screen. You may only enter once and your entry remains in all subsequent draws. Closing dates are 11 May to 13 Jul.

Win £200 worth of wedding services or supplies

As the mother of two young women, I know all too well how expensive a wedding can be, so winning a prize that helps with the costs can be a real help when you are planning a wedding. Wedding Services 4U have a competition on their website with a top prize of £200 to use as full or pary payment for any service that advertises on their site (with a few exceptions, listed at the bottom of the page) or good from their shop. The second prize is £50 to spend in their shop and the third prize is 6 months use of an online table planner.

You can enter the competition and read all about the prizes here

The competition closes on May 31st.

May competition

The May competition is now live on the Grape Vine website. The prize is six months' subscription to the magazine and the closing date is May 31st.

Many thanks to all those who entered last month. The winner is Rena Plumridge and her first copy is on the way to her.