LOCAL charity Empower is hoping hundreds will come along and bid in their charity auction on February 28.

The 28 Day Auction has been running throughout the month on Facebook, and now the charity has confirmed that on the final day of the auction the bids will be sold live from the New Inn in Stratton St Margaret.

From 8pm to 10pm visitors to the local pub will be able to bid for 28 different gifts pledged and promised from people around the town while enjoying music provided by a Beatles tribute band.

They will also be able to bid online for the prizes until bids close at 10pm.

All the proceeds will go towards supporting Empower’s projects in the Gambia, West Africa, including the Agape and Sarakolong Nursery Schools and a maternity unit in Serekunda.

Jo Heaven, who founded the charity, said: “We were looking for a venue that already had an established set of regulars who would get involved and help raise the bids.

“People will be able to bid in house and on Facebook at the same time, so it will be like a proper auction house.

“We’re raising money for the Agape Nursery school, which we are opening in April and which is nearly finished.”

Prizes range from services to pamper days and hampers, including £20 worth of organic fruit picked from an allotment, an organic fruit and vegetable hamper worth £20, a dinner for two in the Swindon College training restaurant, 12 jars of organic jam, an hour worth of gardening, and 10 items of fashionable garments from the Empower Charity Fashion Night.

Also up for bid is a session working on a personalised CV, a professional window-clean for a two storey house, a one hour professional face painting session, a one hour professional makeover, and a one hour jam making session.

Finally up for offer is a one hour folk singing session, an adult and child pass for Cotswold Wildlife Park, four vouchers for games at Laser Quest and a Medi Spa half-day pamper session.

For more information or to place your bids, visit www.facebook.com/events/691709077540846.