Expensive camera was snapped up for just 50p

MISSIONARY Elaine Roberts got more than she bargained for when her brand-new camera was accidentally sold for 50 pence at a charity table top sale in Northampton.

Mrs Roberts put down her ?70 purple Samsung 30mm camera at the fund-raising sale at Kingsthorpe Methodist Church but when she turned around it had been sold off.

The 40-year-old head of the Northampton branch of the Royal Mandate Ministry had taken the camera, which she only bought six months ago, to finish the remaining film.

The charity event was organised to help raise ?4,000 to build a school in Ghana, Africa, which is one of the projects run by the ministry.

She only realised it had been sold as a bargain to an unsuspecting member of the public when one of the volunteers admitted to selling it for a mere 50p. Mrs Roberts, of Far Cotton, said: “At first I thought he was joking and didn’t believe him at first.

“When I realised he was telling the truth I was really gutted not just because he sold it for 50p when he could’ve got a lot more and it was a new camera, but because of the photographs inside.”

The film contained pictures of a friend’s wedding at the Elim Christian Centre, in Gladstone Road, and of volunteers taking part in a missionary projects in the county.

She said: “Those photographs of my friend’s wedding are more important to me because they are irreplaceable.”

Mrs Roberts had put the camera with a distinct purple strap inside a carrier bag with all the volunteers’ other belongs when she arrived at the church hall on Saturday to set up the table-top sale which ran from 10am to 12noon. She said: “I just wanted to finish off the remaining film by photographing the volunteers because I had taken about 19 pictures. “I just kept thinking I had misplaced it in one of the other bags but it wasn’t until I asked the other dozen volunteers about it I was told it had been put on one of the tables and sold straight away.

“The person involved said it was a mistake and he feels very about it. I’ll pay for the developing cost of the film and the 50p the person paid for the camera.” Anyone with information can call Mrs Roberts on Northampton 677816. lei.chan@northantsnews.co.uk