Wealden Community Lottery is celebrating the first £2,000 win by one lucky player.

On Saturday 13 May, a Mrs S from Uckfield won the £2,000 cash prize after matching five numbers.

Mrs S said, “‘I choose to partake in the lottery weekly now as I am very keen to support local groups in these difficult times. It’s great to feel that the money is going to good causes on the doorstep that I might otherwise have never heard about.

“Regarding my win, I was speechless and absolutely thrilled as I have never won anything before and it will help enormously in necessary repairs to my home caused by the extreme weather we experienced through the winter. And perhaps a couple of fun days out with my grandchildren too.”

During the same draw, four other players matched three numbers and won £25 and several people won free lottery tickets after matching two numbers.

Since launching nine weeks ago, the lottery has seen 299 lucky winners – prizes include a mixture of cash prizes, free tickets and one lucky individual winning the IPAD giveaway prize – and almost £7,742.40 raised for Wealden good causes so far.

Wealden Community Lottery is an online sustainable fundraising solution provided by Wealden District Council for local good causes with, believe it or not, no upfront costs. It’s designed to help local not-for-profits to diversify their fundraising streams and enable year-round fundraising in a safe, fun and effective way.

People are being urged to buy a ticket and support the local community today by playing the lottery. There are more than 67 registered causes to choose from to help people with their ticket purchase.

The chosen cause receives 50% from the sale of each £1 ticket with an additional 10% going to further support the local community. There are weekly cash prizes to be won up to the value of the £25,000 jackpot and with 50:1 odds of winning a prize people will find a bit of fun at the same time as knowing they’re really helping their local community.

Wealden District Council leader Councillor James Partridge said, “Congratulations to the first £2,000 winner of Wealden Community Lottery. It is wonderful to see a player winning a substantial amount of money while raising money for good causes at the same time.

“The funds raised through the lottery are already making a huge difference to grassroots good causes. We’d like to thank everyone who has joined the lottery so far, and encourage anyone who wants to support a good cause to take part, have fun and maybe even win the top prize of £25,000.”

To support a local good cause and play the lottery today go to: www.wealdencommunitylottery.co.uk

Good causes not only benefit from receiving 50% of the profits from ticket sales from their page they also receive a host of bespoke marketing materials and support as well as their own Wealden Community Lottery web page.

Good causes can sign up at any time for free to start raising money in the first week, it’s so easy to do – simply visithttp://www.wealdencommunitylottery.co.uk