Organisers behind Pudsey’s lottery are marking six months of supporting local businesses with a delayed draw today.
The December Bonanza draw was delayed due to lockdown, but will take now place this afternoon (Friday), starting around 4pm.
It will be managed and drawn by Nigel Monaghan, of Ison Harrison Solicitors who is chairman of the Pudsey Lottery Sub-Committee, and vice-chairman Dan Holah, who will be filming events.
Two other members of the Ison Harrison ‘Work Bubble’ will be noting down all winning numbers and act as adjudicators.
During the first four months of the Pudsey Lottery, more than £6,200 of tickets were sold, with £5,085 given out in Pudsey Pound prizes to circulate back into the town’s business community.
Pudsey business Forum chair Trish Smith said:
“Whilst we were really sorry to have had to postpone the December Bonanza Draw, as a committee we felt it was only right we played our part by following the rules and helping to keep everyone safe.
“We’ve all worked incredibly hard behind the scenes since that time to get to a point where we could hold the draw this evening. This evening has only been made possible by tireless work from our Treasurer – Alison Goodfellow – who has used her exercise time to collect the January tickets and drop off the February tickets – so please get out and buy those February tickets!
“Thanks as always to every business selling the Pudsey Lottery tickets and to every one of you who bought a ticket in these difficult times. Special thanks to those who kept faith with the Pudsey Lottery and bought a January ticket without knowing when the draw would take place – exactly the kind of commitment our shops, markets and businesses really need from every one of us! It is still very tough times for so many, so please SHOP LOCAL WHEREVER POSSIBLE.
“Thank you to everyone for the ongoing support, please keep supporting the Pudsey Lottery and all our shops, market stalls and businesses wherever you can.”
The format for this evening’s draw will be: The five Pudsey Pound prizes drawn from the December tickets, followed by the 28 Bonanza Prizes (pledged by local businesses as a ‘Thank You’ back for everyone’s support of them) which will also be drawn against the December tickets.
Then organisers will move on to draw the five Pudsey Pound prizes from the January tickets. Despite many businesses being closed due to lockdown, and very few people actually being out and about, the lottery still managed to sell 466 tickets in January, which gives a total prize pot of 375 Pudsey Pounds, to be broken down between five winners.