FOUR lucky readers got the chance to bid under the virtual hammer after winning our FSauctions competition earlier this year.

Christine Taylor, 46, of New Froxfield, near Marlborough; Janice Holley, 62, of Swindon; Jonathan Bullen, 25, of Chippenham and Tracy Rodd, 38, of Warminster, were each given £250 to bid on the FSauctions.co.uk site after winning our auction competition, featured in Newsquest's Worldwide Wiltshire supplement in June.

After congregating inside Devizes' popular internet cafe, Options, on a Saturday afternoon, the four bidders got down to the task of snapping up as many bargains as possible.

Surrounded by pastel shades and dim lighting while huddled over their screens in the spacious Station Road cafe, whoops and claps soon began to erupt from the beady eyed buyers.

Watching over the proceedings was Options project manager Noel Woolrych who was equally impressed by the range of items on offer and easy to follow guidelines.

He said: "I think FSauctions is an excellent idea. There appears to be a lot of choice and relatively simple to use. Many people think the internet is frightening and difficult to manoeuvre around but this site is an example of just how easy it can be.

"I'm quite impressed by it and there is definitely something for everyone."

As the minutes drifted into hours, the number of goods collected by the first time bidders soon began to mount up.

With £250 in cash to spend and thousands of goodies to choose from, the winners often found themselves pondering over a number of equally tempting delights ranging from traditional dining sets to videos featuring Hollywood hunk Keanu Reeves.

In fact, all four either found it impossible to spend the full amount in one afternoon and opted to have another browse at home or were left on tenterhooks to see whether or not their bids would be topped or not over the next few days.

For more information on the cafe, visit the Options website.