A RAFFLED painting raised £750 for charity after tickets were sold over ten months.

East Dorset Council chairman Malcolm Birr drew the winning ticket at his gala dinner, pulling out the name of Glenys Hazlehurst.

Now the framed oil painting of Wimborne Minster, specially provided by local artist Paul Dolman, will take pride of place in her Ashley Heath home.

Cllr Birr’s chosen charities, Marie Curie Cancer Care and Home-Start South East Dorset are both set to benefit from his year of fundraising.

Cllr Birr said: “I would like to congratulate Glenys on winning this painting and thank her, along with everyone who bought raffle tickets throughout the past 10 months, for supporting my chosen charities, Marie Curie Cancer Care and Home-Start South East Dorset.

“I must also thank Paul Dolman for producing and donating such a wonderful piece of local art for us to raffle.”

The Chairman welcomed 125 guests for his gala dinner at Dudsbury Golf Club where a charity auction, along with final raffle ticket sales, saw £2,500 raised for his charities. Guests received a three-course meal and were entertained by Michael Bublé tribute act Steve Maitland. The cost of staging the gala dinner was met by sponsorship from Lamwell Motor Company in Ferndown and a second company who did not wish to be publicised as sponsors.

Marie Curie Cancer Care provides palliative care which is free of charge to the person having the care, allowing clients to die in their own home with their family around them. All of the money raised in Dorset stays in Dorset.

Home-Start South East Dorset is one of 300 Home-Start schemes around the country but each one is completely self-financing. They have a team of some 90 volunteers who are specially matched to work with disadvantaged families with a variety of problems. Each family receives a visit from a volunteer once a week for a period of up to six months.