MORE than 130 people waited for the doors of the former Smith Street post office to open on Saturday. Some 800 tickets at £300 each were sold on the first day of Les Bourgs Hospice’s Million Pound Lottery fund-raiser.
Five volunteer counter staff worked non-stop between 10am and 4pm as the queue stretched, at times, up to The Old Government House Hotel.
‘It was absolutely stunning,’ said Friends of Les Bourgs chairman Jack Honeybill. ‘We had a person organising people in front of the old post office hall as it was such a wet and horrible day. People were fantastically keen.’
A total of 5,000 tickets will be sold for the draw, scheduled for Valentine’s Day.
Deputy Honeybill estimated that about half of the tickets had been sold to syndicates.
First in the queue was an off-duty staff member of the Ambulance and Rescue Service who bought on behalf of 30 colleagues.
‘Instead of giving Christmas cards to one another, we put money in an envelope and give it to Les Bourgs,’ said the man, who did not wish to be named.
‘We thought it would be a great idea to show our support and wanted to be the first to do so.’
- Tickets can be bought between 11am and 3pm six days a week. Cash and cheques will be accepted, but not credit cards. There are also prizes of £50,000, £25,000, £15,000 and £10,000.
Article posted on 3rd November, 2008 - 11.30am
One Article Comment
Mr Honeybill seems to have come full circle. The charity with which he is associated is encouraging people to gamble in the former Post Office premises. Some of us remember when Mr H was chairman of the committee which was supposed to be overseeing the operations of the Post Office during the months leading up to the debacle which peaked around Christmas 2003.
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