The Pre-Christmas Raffle was held during the coffee morning in the Holy Family Church Hall at Budleigh Salterton on Sunday December 22nd. At the end of Mass Fr. Philip reminded the congregation about the raffle. He thanked those who had donated prizes and also those who had made-up the hampers. He also wished good luck to all who had bought raffle tickets.
The new hall was warm and welcoming and looked very festive with green and red table decorations. There was a very convivial atmosphere as people enjoyed a cup of coffee or tea, a glass of sherry and a hot mince pie. There were 40 raffle prizes in total all donated by members of the congregation. The tickets had been on sale for a number of weeks and Bernadette and Mary had bravely fought the elements before and after Mass to sell them.
There were a large number of tinsel-decorated chocolate boxes and bottles of wine to be won and also some stunning hampers which had been assembled and decorated with tinsel, bows and ribbons by Mary, Bernadette, Heather and Geoff.
As it was Jim’s birthday we all sang Happy Birthday to him before he had the honour of drawing the first ticket. The winning numbers were called out by Geoff resplendent in his Christmas jumper and almost everybody in the hall went home with a prize.
A lot of effort goes into fund-raising events like this and our thanks must go to everyone who worked so hard behind the scenes and on the day itself to make it such a success.
— Gloria Atkinson