ProShare Competition
The first ProShare competition was held in 1995; there were three categories in which one could enter - Best New Share Club, Most Successful and Best Overall. We entered the first two categories, as our portfolio had performed quite well. In fact it had gained 49% in nine months, so we won a cup (displayed proudly at The White Hart), a 'parcel of goodies' and most importantly a cheque for £1500 from Barclay Stockbrokers, the sponsors of the competition. All this generated a great deal of publicity - The Times was first off the mark with a telephone interview (featured on the front page of the business section), followed by the Western Daily Press, Salisbury Journal, Southampton Daily Echo, London Evening Standard and a full page article with colour photo in the Daily Express. Reader's Digest did an 'in-depth' article, We've even made News of the World (Not sure that's such a good thing...) The Sun sent down a photographer to take a snap of us holding a 'lucky' lottery ticket, but it never made it into print.
We appeared on four TV programmes (Meridian, BBC South, Nick & Anne's morning show and a BBC2 investment program with the irrepressable Alvin Hall. We also featured in a promotional video for ShareLink (before they became Charles Schwab) the Birmingham based stockbroker. Finally, BBC Radio Solent interviewed Peter G and Christine in the studio, with another interview at Peter G's home. Our somewhat protracted 'fifteen minutes of fame'!