One day Danny Wallace was bored so he placed an advert in his local paper saying Join Me.

He didn't have anything special in mind, there wasn't really anything to join - he was simply interested to see if anyone would.

A few days later a man called Christian Jones read the ad and, on a whim, replied.

Danny had his first joinee but now he wanted more. So he set up a web site, sat back and waited.

Soon the replies were pouring in - dozens of them.

It was going brilliantly until one day a joinee wrote to say she wanted to unjoin because she still did not know what Join Me was for.

Danny knew others would leave if he didn't come up with a purpose. As he racked his brains, inspiration struck.

He contacted a group of joinees who had arranged to meet for a picnic and gave them their first task - to make an old man happy.

Days later he received an email from the elated joinees. It said: "We found a great deal of old men to make happy. In Hyde Park itself, we found several old men on deckchairs and bought them cups of tea."

But the greatest moment of all, the joinees reported, had come when they were walking past a pub. They spotted a white-haired old man in a blazer, sadly gazing into his pint.

When they asked if they could do anything to make him happy, he said he didn't think so - he lived in Devon, his car had broken down and he didn't have enough money to get home.

"We can help," announced the joinees, who clubbed together to give the old man £38 for his train fare and some food.

The old gent, who introduced himself as Raymond Price, was so touched he left a message on the joinees' dictaphone, saying: "I have never been so happy as I am now."

That was all the inspiration Danny needed. The story of Raymond Price was clearly a sign and soon joinees were making old men happy across the country, mowing lawns and leaving bowls of soup outside bungalows.

As photographs of smiling pensioners poured into his flat, Danny decided to extend his operation. Joinees were given a new duty. Every Friday they must carry out one act of random kindness to a stranger.

As the number of joinees reached 3,000, little acts of kindness were soon happening everywhere.

Danny often thought back to the day it all began when his joinees had helped Raymond Price with his train fare.

And then someone sent Danny a cutting from The Argus. They had spotted the old man's picture on the Join Me web site and thought Danny deserved to know the truth.

The article, dated January 14, 2000, was headlined "Con artist jailed for trail of deception".

It read "Raymond Price, 59, specialised in cheating kindhearted members of the public. He toured the South claiming his car had broken down and he needed cash for his train fare home."

Price, who formerly ran an art gallery in Rye, was jailed for 18 months at Chichester Crown Court after admitting 13 charges of deception and asking for another 162 to be taken into consideration. All involved him "borrowing" sums ranging from £7 to £20 for his bogus train fare.

Danny told The Argus: "I couldn't believe it. I was a bit heartbroken something so good could have come out of a lie.

"For a moment I thought about giving up. But then I thought, without his willingness to talk to strangers, so many people would have lives that were slightly less good than they could have been. I thought, let's not punish him, let's help him instead.

"I worked out from the article how much money he might have made from his scams and it averaged out at £3,645. That means he makes on average £72 a year, which is rubbish.

"I mean he's not exactly a criminal mastermind."

So the Raymond Price Fund was born, with the aim of collecting £72 a year to keep its namesake on the straight and narrow and out of jail.

Hundreds of joinees have come forward with their 20 pence pieces and the first two years are already taken care of. To receive the money, Price has to promise not to scam anyone again.

Danny said: "It means he can sit indoors and watch Countdown with his feet up, eating biscuits instead of going out and conning people. All we need to do now is find Raymond so we can give him the money. "I don't know if he realises he has become an international cult figure but one of these days he is going to find out. I hope he doesn't feel hounded and sees the funny side of it.

"If I ever meet him, I'd love to buy him a pint. I'd obviously tick him off a bit because he is an old rogue and a bit cheeky but it's not as if he murdered anyone.

"If he wanted to join Join Me to make up for his scams, he would be more than welcome, so long as he stays out of trouble and is willing to undertake random acts of kindness every Friday."

Anyone who wants to know more about Join Me, who knows the whereabouts of Raymond Price, or who wants to make a donation to his fund, can email Danny at www.join-me.co.uk Any money left over will be given to charity.