Opal Foundation Raffle Raises Over £3,000

A raffle in aid of the Opal Foundation raised over £3,000 to provide clean water and sanitation in the Kechene Slum project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Raffle tickets were sold by Opal Group staff to residents, guests, suppliers, friends and family during October 2010, with a cuddly Opal Foundation bear at each site to promote the raffle.

The raffle prize winners, which were drawn at The Place Hotel on Thursday 11th November at 7pm:

1st prize - a 2 night stay at The Place Hotel and 2 x Manchester United Home Match tickets - Paula Gregory, Manchester

2nd prize - a 2 night Stay Premier Inn County Hall London and 2 x tickets to See 'Birdsong' - Aspley Hall staff, Huddersfield

3rd prize - a meal for 2 at a Malmaison restaurant of your choice - Robert Ainge, London

4th prize - 2 cases of wine - Fitness Express

Winners of the 2nd prize, Aspley Hall staff, had a draw to determine who went to London.  Lisa Kennedy, Hall Manager was delighted to draw the winning ticket and is looking forward to the break from her busy schedule.

Third prize winner Robert Ainge purchased his raffle ticket with the proceeds from another lucky win: ‘I won £450 on the football pools (yes they still do it! I've had a standing order for mine for 30 years!!!).  I split the pools winnings with my partner and then thought I'd give 10% of mine to charity.  As the raffle tickets were on sale, I thought why not the Opal Foundation, so I bought 25 tickets and hey presto one of them is the winning ticket!!’

Thank you to everyone who sold or purchased tickets, your efforts and monies will make a real difference to the people of Kechene Slum.