Bill and Julie Draper, of Appley Bridge, Greater Manchester, had no idea that Friday 13 December would turn out to be their lucky day.
The couple, who will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in March, only bought tickets for the Derian House Raffle the day before it closed – just a week ago (6 December).
Bill Draper, who will turn 80 in August, was surprised on his doorstep by Derian House staff with the news that he and his wife Julie had won the top prize of £5,000 cash this afternoon (13 December).
Bill, who was decorating his garden Christmas tree at the time, was so taken aback by the news that he dropped and smashed a golden bauble.
He immediately called up wife Julie, who was on her first day out with friends after recovering from pneumonia – and she was absolutely thrilled.
“Wow, we’ve never won that much before, I can’t believe it,” said Julie.
“What a perfect Christmas gift. We entered the raffle to help out Derian House, I never thought we’d win it. I think we’ll use the money to go on holiday. We haven’t been able to go away since before COVID. That would be lovely.”
£1,000 was awarded to the second prize winner, £500 to the third prize winner, and 20 runners-up won prizes of £25 in the festive raffle that ran from September to December.
With entries flying in from as far as Scotland and Wales, the raffle launched by the Chorley children’s hospice sold 25,268 tickets – raising a phenomenal £41,966.21 to care for the charity’s children and young adults – almost £10,000 more than last year.
And it wasn’t just ticket sales that boosted the total – the charity was inundated with donations from kind-hearted supporters that amounted to £16,698.21.
Sarah Proctor, Lottery & Individual Giving Manager at Derian House, said: “We are absolutely over-the-moon for Julie and Bill! With so many things to celebrate next year, what a perfect gift. They are such a deserving couple and I wish them all the best for their golden wedding anniversary.
“The amount of money raised in our Christmas raffle will make a real difference to seriously ill children and young people from across the North West. It will cost £6 million to run Derian House this year and we rely heavily on the generosity of our supporters as we only receive a small amount of this in NHS funding.”
For full terms and conditions of the raffle visit: https://www.derianraffle.co.uk/terms-conditions/
