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Last month, Nigel Rouse of Mundo Professional put up for auction a signed copy of Nailclass by nail guru Gigi Rouse, to raise funds for BBC Children in Need.

The auction was held on www.salongeek.com and inspired other members of the ‘Geek’ community to join in to raise funds for needy children. The results were amazing with a total of £1,365 being raised in just two weeks.

Due to a slight time difference on her computer, Min Greig thought she had the winning bid for Nailclass at £145 only to find that Sandra Gullick got the final bid at £150 - ten times the published price of the book!

Hating the thought of a grown woman being reduced to tears, Nigel and Gigi got their heads together and quickly put up a second copy of the book and offered it to Min if she matched the winning bid. Needless to say, the offer was accepted and a total of £300 was raised from the two books.

Other items being auctioned included:

• A day’s one-to-one waxing tuition with male grooming specialist Andy Rouillard of Axiom Bodyworks. This was won by Zoe Masson who bid £150. Zoe also won the auction for a Gel Nails Workshop with Amber Varnham (Creative Brisa Master Technician), which raised £70.
• Lyndsay Harrold pledged £100 for a Fibreglass day with Ruth Fordham in London. Ruth offered an additional day which raised £70 from successful bidder Theresa Bloor. Theresa also had the winning bid for a Nail Art Start-up Kit from Victoria Hunter in Canada which raised a further £70!
• Fiona Barron donated one of her beautiful hand made bracelets, this was won by Debbie Russell for £35.
• Adele Keegan put up for auction an evening’s entertainment with dinner at home. Gabrielle Martin was the lucky bidder, raising £95.
• Samuel Sweet of Sweet Squared donated two one-to-one tuition days with CND (Creative Nail Design). These were one by Cathie Smith and Clare (aka Clara Doon) who between them raised an amazing £475.

Commenting on the auction, Nigel Rouse said: "It all started off as a bit of fun to see how much we could raise. I never imagined so many people would join in the fun - donating prizes and bidding away. To have a prize donated from Canada just goes to show what a global community www.salongeek.com is. I’d like to thank everyone who joined in and who helped raise so much money for BBC Children in Need".