LUCK has been shining on Okehampton's Hospiscare charity shop which celebrated its hat-trick of wins this week with latest £1,000 recipient Anne Coates.
Friday 13th proved to be a lucky day for the 61-year-old Okehampton resident who is the third lottery player to win the big prize after buying a ticket at the shop.
Mrs Coates is thrilled and so too is lottery manager Michael Goodwin: 'We are stunned but delighted,' he said. 'Okehampton seems to be a very lucky shop'.
The lottery was launched in May and 3,000 tickets are sold each week in the Exeter-based charity's nine shops throughout the county.
Two weeks after the launch, Margaret Ellacott from Inwardleigh scooped the top prize and just two weeks ago former mayoress of Okehampton Olive Hayward became £1,000 better off.
'It's magical to have three winners in such a short space of time,' Mrs Coates said. 'With it being Friday 13th I just could not believe I had won.
'I read about Mrs Hayward's win in the Okehampton Times but never dreamed I would be next.'
Mrs Coates, who suffers from two bone diseases and is currently undergoing tests for leukaemia, is a strong supporter of all charities but particularly ones concerned with cancer.
Hospiscare, which helps people with life-threatening illnesses and their families, runs a hospice and day centre in Exeter and funds 23 community nurses who cover a large part of Devon including Okehampton.
The lottery winner, who once ran the shop in The Arcade under a different guise as 'Anne's Emporium', has been playing the lottery since its launch in May but could not think of a better time to win.
'It's a really nice sum to have with Christmas not that far away,' she said. 'I am definitely buying a new hoover but I am not sure how I will spend the rest — I'm still in shock.'