This year’s summer holiday will be extra special for Daphne O’Dell – after she scooped a top prize in St Giles Hospice’s Magical Winter Raffle.
Daphne – who coincidentally is a former St Giles Healthcare Assistant – was looking to book a coach trip away with her partner Clifford Harrison when the news arrived that she had won £2,000 as a runner-up in the sensational prize draw.
Now the retired couple have broadened their holiday horizons to include an island vacation complete with warm sunshine, sandy bays, rugged cliffs and historic sites – all thanks to her win on the Magical Winter Raffle!
“It’s such good news. We were just starting to plan our summer holiday, so the win has really increased our options,” says Daphne (75), from Wall near Lichfield. “Originally we were going to take a coach tour, but now we are planning to visit Jersey.”
Daphne was delighted to discover she had won when a cheque came through the post, a day after she had missed a phone call from St Giles Hospice Lottery.
“My partner took a call from the Lottery Office on the Wednesday, but we didn’t know what it was about until a day later when I opened an envelope from St Giles with the prize cheque for £2,000 inside,” says Daphne, who is one of two runners-up to come from Lichfield in this year’s Magical Winter Raffle.
As an added bonus, Daphne also claimed a £5 win in the same draw, which comes on top of the £500 she won in the Lottery’s Super Summer Raffle just two years ago.
For Daphne, such success takes second place to knowing that playing the lottery on a weekly basis – and the hospice’s Bumper Raffles twice a year – helps fund the care of seriously-ill local people.
“I worked at the hospice as a Healthcare Assistant until my retirement, so I have seen how important their service is to people across the region and I know the staff and volunteers at St Giles do an excellent job. I remember it as being a very enjoyable part of my life,” adds Daphne.
“Before I worked for St Giles, I organised a fundraising parachute jump in aid of the hospice and played the lottery each week from the moment it started.”
St Giles Hospice Lottery operates two Bumper Raffles draw each year: The Magical Winter Raffle and the Super Summer Raffle both of which have a whopping £5,000 jackpot and a host of other prizes. Super Summer Raffle tickets for this year are on now on sale, and further details are available by contacting the Lottery Office.
Meanwhile, for £1 per ticket, the St Giles Hospice Lottery continues to give away over £3,000 in prizes every week – including a £2,000 jackpot for one lucky winner.
All who play the weekly lottery receive the St Giles Hospice Lottery Promise Card, which saves them typically 10% on goods and services at more than 150 shops and businesses across the region, while those signing up for a year’s membership in advance can claim a limited edition, highly collectable lottery Caring Bear as a thank-you for their support. Lottery players making regular standing order payments can claim their bear on the anniversary of their membership.
Since it was established in 1997, the lottery has raised in excess of £11 million for St Giles Hospice’s caring services and is one of the most successful lotteries of its kind in the UK.
To find out more about playing the St Giles Hospice Lottery, call 0845 370 6580 or visit www.stgileshospice.com/lottery.
