Flabbergasted Neil McEwan “thought it was a wind up” when he received a surprising phone-call on Christmas Eve.
The RGU lecturer, who lives in Cruden Bay, always pledges some cash to the Rotary’s annual car raffle in Aberdeen’s Bon Accord Centre.
But he thinks of it as a donation, never expecting anything in return.
It took some convincing to persuade Neil that the call to congratulate him on winning was not a scam.
And even as he sat behind the wheel of the silver MG3 Excite for the first time on Saturday morning, he “couldn’t believe” it was his.
He’s got a ticket to ride!
The vehicle, worth £12,500, was the prize in a six-month raffle that raised £17,600 for north-east children’s charity Charlie House.
Neil told us that he dropped £5 in the collection bucket while doing some early Christmas shopping in November.
The microbiology lecturer said: “I make a point every year of just buying a few tickets, it’s for a worthwhile charity.
“I regard it as a donation, just something to do.
“So when I got the phone call I thought ‘this is a wind-up’…
“That was until they were telling me the winning ticket number, and I was able to check!”
Bon Accord Centre car raffle a labour of love for local volunteers
Rotary Clubs across the region have teamed up for the fundraiser for 20 years, with Charlie House as the main beneficiary for the last two.
The car was on display at the former Thorntons chocolate shop in the Bon-Accord Centre from July until Christmas, with Rotary volunteers from manning the space.
It was sponsored by Gillanders Motors and Neil travelled to its Altens showroom this weekend to pick up the keys.
Chairman of the organising committee, Alan Pirie, was there to greet him.
And Alan revealed that the national vaccination drive to counter Omicron before Christmas led to a surge in entries.
He said: “We sold the most tickets per day on Christmas Eve – just when it was about to close.
“As people made their way to and from the centre in the old John Lewis, we noticed it getting busier.”
And echoing Neil’s concerns the call was a ruse, Alan said it’s becoming harder to convince lucky winners that he isn’t a scammer.
He added: “It’s getting more difficult to persuade the winner that you are genuine.
“We find that increasingly every year, it’s getting to be a challenge convincing people this is a genuine prize.”
Huge tally from Bon Accord Centre car raffle boosts Charlie House ‘dream’
Alan, who has been running the give-away for 12 years, is looking forward to better times with more chances to sell tickets at public events in 2022.
Donna Deans, senior fundraising co-ordinator for Charlie House, said the £17,600 would go towards its long-term goal of creating a new specialist care centre in Aberdeen.
The charity is getting closer and closer to the £4 million mark needed to commence work.
Donna said: “This just makes our dream a little bit more of a reality.”
Learn more about the Big Build Appeal here.
