Complete with a delicious cake created by Royal baker Fiona Cairns, tea and an extra special visit from Gem 106 presenter Amy Voce, LOROS Lottery enjoyed an afternoon celebrating their 20th birthday last week.
Two decades after launching in 1996, the Lottery team hosted a party, held in the Hospice grounds last Wednesday for staff and volunteers to celebrate their milestone.
Radio star Amy Voce, who is best known for playing her half of famous duo ‘Sam and Amy’ on the Gem 106 breakfast show, made a guest appearance at the event.
Speaking about the visit Amy said: “I was honoured to be 
invited to LOROS for the lotteries 20th birthday.
“I'm always blown away by what an incredible job all at LOROS do and what a fun and warm place it is to be. Here's to another twenty years of more vital and fantastic work.”
President of LOROS and Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Jennifer, Lady Gretton, also attended the event, as well as Fiona Cairns, who is best known for baking the Royal Wedding Cake in 2011.
Skylark Bakery also baked a selection of delicious cakes for the event, while acoustic guitarist, Martin the Wedding Singer, kept those attending entertained.
Lottery Manager Liz Singleton, who has been part of the team since the beginning said: “It took a little convincing from the rest of the team to hold a party to celebrate LOROS Lottery turning 20 but now, I am so pleased we did.
“I was overwhelmed with the attendance, as we had staff members and volunteers from all different departments come along to help us celebrate.
“To think, 20 years ago, there was just the two of us, sitting in a small office and now, look how far we have come, I have a team of 10, with more than 80 collectors and 25 volunteers.
“The past 20 years has been an absolute roller coaster of a journey but we definitely wouldn’t be where we are now, having raised more than £11 million for LOROS Hospice, without the commitment, passion and support from my wonderful team.
“I want to thank everyone who helped us celebrate and ensure the party was such a success.”
The event came just days after this year’s LOROS Grand Raffle was drawn, which made more than £90,000.
Carol Anderton, 62, of Burbage, shared her experience of LOROS to help promote this year’s Grand Raffle, before she died following her battle with terminal lung cancer in April.
Her husband, Alan, visited the Hospice to draw the winning raffle ticket in his wife’s memory.
He said: “What an absolutely amazing amount the raffle has raised, Carol would be extremely proud that she helped contribute to that.
"Carol loved LOROS and from her time on the ward, to spending time in day therapy, she couldn’t speak more highly of the Hospice, so it was an honour for me to draw the winning ticket in her memory.”
The winner, who claimed an almighty £10,000 but would rather stay anonymous, had been playing the LOROS Lottery since it started 20 years ago.
Second prize was £500 and third was £250, with a further five runner-up prizes of £50.
To help celebrate the LOROS Lottery 20th birthday, we want 1,000 more players to sign up by the end of the year. To become a LOROS Lottery player visit loros.co.uk/lottery
