A collection of 700 toy cars amassed over 60 years sold for nearly £100,000

A retired motoring historian loved to collect toy cars and, over a period of 60 years, he had amassed 700 collecible toy cars. An auctioneer held an individual auction to offload them and made double the estimate. He ha estimated the collection to be worth £40,000 to £60,000 and, it finally came to nearly £100,000.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 3 January 2017.

The collector lives in Birmingham and he went to great lengths to get hold of iconic toy cars. Once he returned home from Naples with a suitcase full of toy cars after buying 'as many as he could afford' on holiday. He has been collecting toy cars ever since his and his first toy cars were when he was six.
It seems one collector paid £2,100 for a pack of 12 Lego miniatures while a prestigious French Dinky Toys set went for £1,450 and a Corgi Toys set for £850.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Bargain hunting woman from Birmingham has stockpiled free goods worth some £5,000

An enterprising woman of Birmingham has devoted her life to hunting for bargains - while many shoppers usually dip into their savings to cover the cost of Christmas, this woman has found a way to enjoy the festive season for free.
The 40-year-old uses coupons, promotions and freebies to save money on everything from premium skincare products to the Christmas turkey. And - she has given up her job to focus on her hobby - known as 'couponing' - full time. She has collected a stockpile of goods worth some £5,000.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 28 November 2016.

She also visits supermarkets during rush-hour because that is when shoppers are most likely to leave behind receipts with money-saving offers and she goes about collecting therm. Believe it or not, over the last year she has earned £960 through this method - it is a practice known as 'wombling'. She has not spent anything on premium skincare this year - she took the benefit of free samples and giveaways.
Notwithstanding these methods, she can even make £15 through cash-back deals on her weekly shop and it pays for everyday expenses. So, she gave up my admin job around a year ago and have managed to live on her couponing. She started couponing in 2010 and, as per her estimates, her household bills have been cut by 90 per cent. Over the last six years, she has bagged some incredible money-saving deals like -
176 tins of baked beans for free, which lasted for a whole year
£17 worth of New Look clothes for £2
£10 worth of washing tablets for 20p


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Malala Yousafzai opens a school for girls in Lebanon – says invest in books, not bullets

#booksnotbullets #malalayousafzai #syrianrefugees #bekkavalley Malala Yousafzai, the education activist and Nobel Laureate marked her 18th birthday by opening a school in for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon and on the occasion she urged the global leaders to reduce military expenditure so that it can facilitate the education of children worldwide. Invest in books and not bullets is show she put it.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 13 July 2015.

The school named "Malala Yousafzai All-Girls School" and financed by Malala Fund has opened near Syria border in Lebanon's Bekka Valley.
While speaking on the occasion she said that if the whole world stopped spending money on the military for just 8 days, we could have the $39 billion still needed to provide 12 years of free, quality education to every child on the planet.
She has written as such in a blog for the Malala Fund.
Terming the situation in Syria as a “heartbreaking tragedy”, she has heaped rebuke on world leaders for having failed Syrian children by ignoring their education needs.
It may be remembered that in 2012, while on a bus returning from the school, Malala was shot in head by three bullets fired by Talibani militants because she used to campaign for girls' education. She was flown to Britain for treatment and later settled in Birmingham. She now studies at Edgbaston High School.
(Image source wikimediacommons.org)

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#SpiderMan #Midlands #homeless #Birmingham Spider Man has been sighted in flesh and blood Midlands and everyone is caught by surprise. He is known to be a fictional character that loves to lie in between the pages of Marvel comics and zoom from place to place to save and rescue helpless people – but, he has now landed in the streets of Birmingham. And – he is feeding the homeless as reported in news.sky.com dated 7 March 2015.
Yes, he is a kind-hearted barman who has taken up the noble mission of trying to help out the vulnerable on the streets of Birmingham.
The man is 20-year-old and his identity is a secret – even from his parents. He is handing out food to the homeless people as Spider-Man. It seems has been volunteering since the age of 17 and has earlier worked with a church group distributing food.
All that is known about him is that he is originally from Water Orton in Warwickshire.
He has been seen in the city center where he spent time with well-wishers who greeted him and posed for photographs. Our real-life Spider Man is determined not to be un-masked and he has managed to keep his identity even from his family.