TWO patients at Worcester's St Richard’s Hospice patients are celebrating after coming up trumps on the charity’s own lottery.

Patricia Withey, 83, from Worcester, scooped £1,000 on the lottery, just four months after joining as a way of supporting hospice care.

Mrs Withey is supported by the St Richard’s Day Hospice as well as a community nurse specialist who visits her at home.

She said: “I couldn’t believe it when I heard I had won, I was thrilled to bits. Everyone at the hospice is absolutely wonderful, they are angels.”

The lucky winner has shared her good fortune with family and plans to have her conservatory redecorated.

Another recent winner is Anne Crowder from Malvern who picked up £400 in the hospices lottery.

Mrs Crowder was also relatively new to the lottery when she was told of her win.

“I couldn’t believe it either,” she said.

Mrs Crowder, who has Parkinson’s Disease, says she will buy more hospice lottery tickets for her family so they have a chance to win but will spend some time thinking about what to do with the rest of her prize.

She said, “I love St Richard’s, it’s like heaven with the gates shut. Every member of staff and volunteer I meet is magnificent. I couldn’t ask for support from anywhere better.”

There are 10,000 members who play the lottery, which is a joint venture between St Richard’s Hospice, Acorns Children’s Hospice and Primrose Hospice.

The Hospices Lottery offers local people the opportunity to support all three hospices based in Worcestershire. The prize funds for the Lottery are £1,700 per week.