Welcome to UKCompers a site aimed at competition lovers for bringing you great giveaways from around the UK and a whole lot more.
My name's Tony and I started my life's comping journey in early 2000, having not long moved to Scotland to be with my late partner, who was obsessed with watching all of the soaps, that became my free time, my learn how to comp and try to win stuff time, so it worked well around work.
It was a shaky introduction for me learning as I go with no real guidance other than seeing message boards and folk were winning, it must be remembered social media wasnt around at this time and it was the days the broadband shared a line with the house phone and many of the older compers will remember them days of a phone call and your connection being lost on the internet.
That first year it got to August and I had won a number of small prizes, but did find myself in that place where so many new compers have to journey through, the "I can't win big prizes like other people seem to do'. I was losing faith and decided is the effort worth the reward and did start to flag.
Early September 2000 I experienced 'The Hook', I'm sure all compers who have stuck with it know their first big prize, that got the adrenalin racing, the heart pumping and I did fall foul in the middle of Stranraer High Street while on my lunch break of punching the air and shouting 'Yes' loudly, while taking a call from QED-UK to say I'd won a Kenwood HiFi system (music system for younger readers), worth £1000 and they wanted to arrange delivery, That was me 'hooked' and I'd say the same thing as I was back then to new compers, once you have experienced 'The Hook', its the most wonderful drug in the world and even if you take a break from comping, you will come back to it to try and recreate that feeling again, believe me you can and I have done many times over the last 25 years.
From there I was already running a website I had built for Stranraer and the surrounding areas as a way to try and work towards incorporating chat rooms, adding links to local services, putting games and local interest items on the site, but with my 'Hook' I then wanted to share in the joy of comping with others, so I created a forum based competition site known as 'Competition Forums UK', which a number of folk comping may have been aware of back in the noughties, and was always proud that although other sites existed, we were happy to share the answers and help each other, trying to make the site about teamwork and sharing to maximise everyone's chance to win, as there's always been plenty of prizes to go around for all to enjoy comping and I truly do feel immense joy when I see friends winning too, even down to that big smile that feels warm inside when they win.
Following tragic circumstances and as social media began to become a thing the Competition Forums UK did fizzle into obscurity towards the end of the noughties, but then in 2010 living back in Essex, then a couple of years later Norfolk, because I missed the sharing and social aspect of comping an early version of what is now Advent Picks Facebook Group, then in 2012 Prizeland Picks Facebook group were a way to share the love of comping with others.
On that Facebook are forever changing how it works, what can be done in groups etc and its appreciated the number of people who use Prizeland Picks and Advent Picks on Facebook, so UKCompers.com / UKCompers.co.uk I suspect is my pre-empting facebook eventually becoming a less used thing as technology and social media change. If the site can offer access to competitions, the advent yearly marathon as well as more ideas that will make the site enjoyable to use, then I felt the time is close to do things in a bigger, better way.
Really hope that you will enjoy using the site once its up an running, but for now added the about page to whet your appetite that something new is in the air
Some final words of wisdom for newer compers from a guy who learnt this in 2000, To win you need effort, luck and self belief that you can and will win, luck then finds you so much faster when you truly think you're lucky and will win, but you need to truly believe that and never let the negative energy of 'I never win anything' or 'I'm not a lucky person' come into your mind, luck finds you less when you dont have a positive mindset and energy towards winning prizes.
If you haven't yet, once you win 'The Hook' Prize and experience that feeling, you will totally understand why comping is addictive.
For now be lucky everyone and hope you all win wonderful prizes over the coming months.
Tony xx