A HECTIC day at the office made busier by staff shortages had a silver lining, on Friday, for mother-of-three Elaine Cooke - for in the middle of her work she received a telephone call to say she was this week's 2,000 pounds jackpot winner on the St John's Hospice in Wirral Weekly Lottery!

"I just couldn't believe it!" said Elaine, a clerical officer in the Pharmacy Department at Clatterbridge Hospital. "I won five pounds five or six weeks ago and thought I would never win again!"

Elaine, who lives in Bromborough with husband Bernard and their three teenagers, Vicky, Barry and Richard, said she had no idea what the money would be used for. "I can't do much work, although I have got to because we are short-staffed at the moment!"

Each week throughout the year, the St John's Hospice lottery computer selects at random the 54 numbers which share the 3,000 pounds weekly prize money - a top prize of 2,000 pounds, second prize of 500 pounds, third prize of 100 pounds, fourth prize of 50 pounds, 20 ten pound winners and 30 five pound winners.

The winning numbers are published each week in the Wirral Globe. Membership of the lottery is open to people aged 16 or over and costs one pound per week.

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