Leading racehorse trainer Jenny Pitman visited the Prospect Hospice in Wroughton yesterday to celebrate the first birthday of the Hospice Lottery.

Mrs Pitman, who lives in Lambourn, is the patron of the organisation and has also beaten her own battle against cancer.

She cut a birthday cake to mark the event and chatted with staff.

Lottery manager Jenny Evans said: "Jenny is a wonderful woman and has shown us a lot of support since she was made patron of the lottery.

"She and has visited the hospice on a number of occasions.

"We had invited her to attend the birthday party we are holding next week. She could not make it, but she was able to make it to cut the cake.

"She also dedicated a wooden rocking horse for the hospice."

The Prospect Hospice, which was established 20 years ago, cares for terminally ill patients from the Swindon area.

The hospice is also holding a special party at Ark-ells Brewery, which is one of the sponsors of the lottery, on November 10.

And there will be an anniversary lottery draw the same day.

As well as all the top prize winners, the event will be attended by all the trustees, shop managers and the fundraising team.

The Prospect Hospice lottery is thriving, with 3,200 paying members on its books.

It pays out 79 cash prizes each week for a stake of £1 and the jackpot is £1,000 which is usually delivered by hand by the organisers.

In many cases, the prize-winners donate some of their money back to the charity.

Money raised in the draw is put towards the care of patients at the hospice, which costs £5,000 a day to run.