A COUPLE are celebrating a £2,000 windfall from a lottery that helps hospice patients.

Cyril and Ann Weightman, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, won the top prize in a weekly draw organised by One Wish for four North-East hospices - The Butterwick, at Bishop Auckland, St Theresa's, at Darlington, St Cuthbert's, Durham, and St Benedict's, in Sunderland.

The couple have bought tickets almost every week since the draw started in 1999, but this is their first big success.

With almost 20,000 registered members paying £1, the draw raises £5,000 a week for each of the four hospices and has contributed more than £2m.

Mr Weightman said: "It is nice to put something into the fund knowing that the money is going to good causes."

Gary Krumm, from One Wish, said: "People do not realise how far their £1 a week goes. It enables each hospice to do all sorts of things for patients that they could not otherwise do."

The Butterwick Hospice is planning two new fundraising events.

A five-course Cantonese banquet at the Fortune Court, in Bishop Auckland, will be held on Tuesday, April 12. Tickets are £19. A collectors' fair is planned at Harperley Prisoner of War Camp, in August.

Contact (01388) 603003 for further details.