WITH Easter just around the corner, newsagents across Swindon have come up with a chocolicious way to support the Adver’s 160 Appeal for Prospect Hospice.

Shop owners across Swindon and Wroughton have got behind the campaign to collect £160,000 for the charity by running raffles in their stores and offering customers a chance to win achocolate egg.

The £1 tickets will be sold throughout the day on Thursday, April 17 and will put residents in the running to scoop the treat while raising valuable funds for the organisation which provides palliative and end-of-life care to 2,000 patients each year.

The lucky winner for each store will receive the coveted prize at 5pm the same day.

Mark Boorman, the owner of Delta Convenience, on Delta Business Park, Welton Road, jumped at the opportunity to support the hospice which cared for his late father in its very early days.

“My dad was 58 when he died at Prospect of Motor Neurone Disease in 1989 – that’s when Prospect was still in Old Town,” said the 49-year-old. “And recently a close friend of mine died of cancer there as well and the care they gave her there and gave my dad was fantastic.

“We have 100 raffle tickets but I think we will need more. “I’m sure people won’t mind donating a pound for a ticket. “It will be a fun thing to do but there is a serious side to it and that’s the work Prospect do in the town. “I don’t know anyone who has not been helped or knows someone who has been helped by Prospect.”

The quirky and very apt Easter charity event was the ideal way for Coventry Farm News, in St John Road, Wroughton, to further its fundraising efforts for the hospice.

Director Elaine Owen said: “Prospect is a favoured charity in Wroughton and that’s why we wanted to do something.

“We already have a collection box to raise money for them. “Since February people have been donating and it’s nearly full.

“We always try to do things for Prospect and all the things we do are always popular. It was logical for us to take part in this. “We have a footfall of 600 people here every day and I think people will definitely buy raffle tickets to win the Easter egg. It’s something fun too.”

So far local businesses have placed appeal collection boxes on their counters, with some even offering to match any amount donated in the tin. Stores involved in the Easter Egg campaign are:

  •  Coventry Farm News, 14-16 St John Road, Wroughton
  •  Londis, Town Centre, 58 Bridge Street
  •  McColls Penhill, 1 Braydon Court, Penhill Drive
  • Delta Convenience, 1401 Delta Office Park, Welton Road
  •  Kent Mini Market, 3 Kent Road, Old Town
  • Co-op Rodbourne, 3 Rodbourne Road