Celebrating 25 years of the St Catherine’s Hospice Lottery!
Monday 7 August 2023 we celebrated the 25th birthday of our St Catherine’s Hospice Lottery. The lottery is a vital part of fundraising for our hospice that helps us to ensure that we can provide expert care, counselling, bereavement and wellbeing services to local people that we care for, when they need it most.
Since the first draw in 1998, our lottery has had over 47,000 members sign up, we have had 40,000 winners, and it has raised an incredible £16 million for our hospice. Over 65p of every lottery £1 goes directly towards care, contributing more than £19,000 every week towards the services we provide for local people.
As the saying goes, ‘You’ve got to be in it to win it’ and that’s true for 89-year-old Richard who has been supporting us as a lottery member since the pandemic. Richard won the coveted £1,000 weekly prize back in March, and shared with us how he wanted to spend some of it: “I have a 92-year-old lady companion who I wanted to send some flowers to.
Before being told I had won, I wasn’t sure if I had budgeted enough to buy the flowers for her. I’m choked up I’ve won, and I’m so grateful for the win.”
Another one of our weekly £1,000 winners was Julie, who has been a member of the lottery for eight years. Like many others, lockdown and the pandemic made life difficult. She told us what winning meant to her: “When I got a phone call telling me I’d won, I nearly cried down the phone. 2021 was tough, I home schooled the kids and my work was affected. I don’t do the hospice lottery to win, it’s just lovely to know I’m helping, but I’m really chuffed.
It’s nice to win anything but winning the £1,000 prize is a significant amount of money. I paid £500 off my credit card, gave the kids £50 each and brought myself an egg chair for the garden as a treat.
Playing the St Catherine’s Lottery is an easy way to support the hospice. Once you’ve set up the Direct Debit you don’t need to do anything else. If everyone gave a small amount to be part of the lottery it would make a massive difference.”
A huge thank you to all past and present members of our lottery, whose contribution has helped us to get to this amazing milestone, and we’d love for you to be a part of helping us reach the next one!
For £5 a month you can join our weekly lottery and be in with a chance of winning a cash prize – either the £1,000 first prize or 40 runner up prizes of £20. You’ll also be playing an important part in caring for your community. For more information or to join the lottery, please visit our website or call the Lottery Team on 01293 447373.
Here’s to another 25 years!
