A GREAT grandmother from Leigh has scooped £3,000 in a hospice’s annual draw.

Elsie Gibson, aged 75, was in hospital when she discovered she had won the top prize in the yearly draw run by Wigan and Leigh Hospice.

The grandmother of five and great-grandmother to baby Jack almost missed out after leaving her ticket stubs in a diary but luckily she realised a week before it was drawn and sent her ticket stubs to the hospice in time.

Mrs Gibson said: “When I opened the letter I could see there was a cheque in there.

“I was in bed and my son was in one corner and my granddaughter Charlotte was with him so I said that I must have won something on the draw.

“I couldn’t read the numbers and said it would lovely if I’d won £25 or £50 so I asked Charlotte to take it to her daddy so he could see how much it was for.

“She looked at it and said ‘my goodness nana, it’s for £3,000’ and I thought she was joking.

“I have never won anything before and this was lovely because I needed a little boost.”

Following her win Mrs Gibson treated her grandchildren and is hoping to have a holiday in the Lakes.

“I never thought anything of it when I got a letter,” added Mrs Gibson.

“I do get some correspondence from the hospice because my husband Jack died at Christmas and he went to the day hospice there.

“He went three or four times and really enjoyed it but in the end he got too poorly to go.

“It’s not been a good six to nine months - I had a big operation and I’m having to have chemotherapy – so to win this was lovely.”