1662 tickets were bought and the 2020 New Hall Grand Christmas Raffle raised £1,144 for Winchelsea New Hall and £373 for Rye Food Bank.

We, the fundraising committee for The New Hall, have been waiting for this for so long it seems…… the Draw for our Grand Christmas Raffle in aid of the New Hall and Rye Food Bank, in memory of Sheila Holland who served on our committee for many years.

On 8th December, the Mayor of Winchelsea,         David Page, the Deputy Mayor, David Merrifield and Robert Holland, the Chairman of The New Hall gathered together -socially distanced of course – with the New Hall Fundraising Committee to commence the Draw.

It went very well and a phenomenal 1,662 tickets were bought. After expenses we raised £1,144 for The Hall and £353 for the Rye Food Bank.  Since the draw we received an additional donation bringing that total to £373.

We couldn’t have done this without the generous people of Winchelsea and surrounding areas who not only bought the tickets but some of whom also kindly donated some splendid raffle prizes.

And we also have to thank the very generous local businesses who donated some fabulous prizes, amongst them, our Local Nature Reserve at Rye Harbour, The Rye Retreat, Winchelsea Farm Kitchen, Charles Palmer Vineyards, Calendar Window Cleaning, Harborough Nurseries, Rye Chocolates, Ethel Loves Me, The Red Fish & Chip Van, Garden Gems Garden Centre, Linda Gilfrin Jewellery, Cafe des Fleurs Flowers, Harborough Nurseries, Wickens at Ship’s Stores, MJ Pilates, and artists Cheryl Fraser-Sampson, Shirley Meyer, Neil Eastell, Judith Pevsner, Hilary Roome and Anita Bevan!

Unusually, it was a ‘choose your prize’ raffle – a bit more work for the organisers but resulting in happier winners including Lorna Challand, Jo Lush, Jennifer Sutherland, Phil Bolton, Jenny Willshier, Sue & Tony Moore, Alan McKinna, Faith Maxfield, Stuart Bottomley, Nicola Byrne, Jonathan Murphy and Tony Davis.

None of this could have been done without the fantastic help of Jenny Lozano and Felix who designed our attractive posters, flyers and website.  And none of it would have happened without the New Hall fundraising team of Rosemarie Roberts, Sandra Merrifield, Jo Sidders, Robbie Gooders, Anita Bevan, Richard Plumb and Hilary Roome.  Thank you all and WELL DONE Winchelsea!

winchelsea.com/christmasraffle2020