A SECOND resident from the Okehampton area has scooped the £1,000 jackpot in the Hospiscare Lottery in six months.

But it's no surprise to the charity which says its shop in Okehampton, where the tickets were bought, is the most successful of all the nine Hospiscare shops with 158 regular players each week.

This week's big cash winner, former mayoress of Okehampton Olive Hayward, has followed hot on the heels of Margaret Ellacott who hit the jackpot just a couple of weeks after the shop opened in The Arcade in May.

Mrs Hayward, 78, who also subscribes to the EX20 Lottery, bought her ticket every week but never thought about winning.

'I've won the odd £5 but never anything like this — I still cannot believe it,' she said.

The winner has had personal experience of cancer having suffered from breast cancer herself and losing her husband Len to the illness last year while he was mayor of the town.

She said the charity, which helped people with life threatening illnesses and their families, had been wonderfully supportive and community nurse Gay Hill, who had nursed her husband, had become a personal friend.

'I've supported the Hospiscare lottery since it was launched in Okehampton because it is a very worthy cause,' she said.

She also had nothing but praise for the people of Okehampton who had been 'marvellous' following the death of her husband despite being incomers to the town.

'I would not have wanted to live anywhere else,' she said. 'Losing your husband is something you never get over but the caring attitude and family atmosphere of the Okehampton community helped me to cope and make a new life for myself.

'People would stop me in the street — I could not always remember their names — and ask me how I was. Okehampton people have been my absolute salvation.'

Mrs Hayward promised her dying husband she would stand for Okehampton Town Council and now as a town councillor and school governor she has a very full life.

Now Christmas has come early for Mrs Hayward. She intends to spend her windfall on those things she has been saving up for like a new outfit.

'I've spent the money six or seven times over in my head,' she said. 'The money makes things a little easier for me and I will give some to my family.'

Three thousand people currently play the Hospiscare Lottery, a figure which the charity wants to increase by 1,000 before Christmas.

Its costs more than £2-million a year to fund the service which covers a large part of Devon and consists of a Hospice in Exeter with 12 in-patient beds, a day care centre for 15 people and 23 community nurses.

Hospiscare lottery manager Michael Goodwin said Okehampton was a very important area with around 200 people paying by direct debit or purchasing tickets over the counter each week.

'We are really proud of the people of Okehampton for all their help — Okehampton is the smallest Hospiscare shop yet we get the biggest number of players there. We are delighted the town has another winner.'