STAFF Nurse Margaret Fisher is used to getting telephone calls from St John's Hospice, Bebington, where she has worked since it opened in 1983. But she was taken aback, on Friday lunchtime, when the voice on the other end asked if she could return to work - to collect a cheque for £2,000.

"It was the last thing I expected to hear!" said Margaret, who becomes the fifth person to win the jackpot prize on the St John's Hospice in Wirral Weekly Lottery.

Co-incidentally, a farewell party was being held at the hospice for Sister Sue Buckley and hospice officials quickly arranged for Margaret to journey from her Bebington home to receive her cheque in front of delighted colleagues.

Margaret - she and her husband, Roger, who is Registrar for Births and Deaths at Birkenhead Town Hall, have two grown-up sons - told me: "It was my birthday on Sunday, but we were unable to celebrate because I was at work, but our silver wedding anniversary is looming and I suspect we will use the money to do something rather special!"

There are more such happy moments to come for other local people. Each week throughout the year, the hospice lottery computer will select at random the 54 numbers which will share the £3,000 weekly prizemoney - a top prize of £2,000, second prize of £500, third prize of £100, fourth prize of £50, 20 £10 winners and 30 £5 winners.

Lottery Manager Allan Stewart has received another bumper postbag of applications from people wanting to support the lottery with a £1-a-week local flutter. "In just five weeks, the lottery has become self-financing - we are just so thrilled that Wirral people are supporting us in such great numbers," he added.

Officials at St John's, a registered charity, decided to launch their own local lottery following refusal of an application for National Lottery funds to help meet the £1 million annual running costs of the hospice, which provides invaluable care for the terminally ill and their families.

Membership of the St John's Hospice Lottery is open to people aged 16 or over and costs just £1 per week. That buys one ticket which gives the holder a unique number selected by computer.

The 54 winning numbers are published each week in the Wirral Globe.

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