Burnley grandma (83) wins £5,000 in Christmas charity raffle

But the 83-year-old Burnley grandma was flabbergasted when she discovered she was the winner of a whopping £5,000 in Derian House’s Christmas raffle.

She plans to spend the money flying to Australia to visit her son and grandchildren – a trip she never believed she would be able to make again.

“I can’t believe it, I’ve never won anything,” said Joan, who was surprised on her doorstep with the news she had won the top prize of £5,000.

“I entered the raffle to help out Derian House, I never thought I’d win it. I’m going to put the money towards a trip to Australia to see my son and two grandchildren. I never thought I would be going back there – I thought I had been for the last time. It will be great to see my grandchildren again. And maybe I’ll treat myself while I’m there. I might fly business class!”

A total of £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, Wales, and London, the raffle launched by the Chorley children’s hospice sold more than 22,000 tickets – raising a phenomenal £33,000 to care for the charity’s children and young adults.

And it wasn’t just ticket sales that boosted the total – the charity was inundated with donations from kind-hearted supporters that amounted to almost £11,000.

Sarah Proctor, Community Fundraiser at Derian House, said: “We are absolutely over-the-moon for Joan! It was incredible to hear how happy she is, and the fact that she plans to spend it on seeing her son and grandchildren on the other side of the world.

“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.”