Painter’s Keep charity draw winner revealed and Sussex hospices awarded nearly £80,000

The winner of the Painter’s Keep charity prize draw has been announced. Painter’s Keep was originally a water tower built in 1925 on the Kingston Gorse Estate, known as ‘millionaire’s row’.
Painter’s Keep was originally a water tower built in 1925 on the Kingston Gorse EstatePainter’s Keep was originally a water tower built in 1925 on the Kingston Gorse Estate
Painter’s Keep was originally a water tower built in 1925 on the Kingston Gorse Estate

Currently, the property is valued at £1.25million. It has been fully refurbished and has stunning, panoramic views from the tower. Due to Brexit, stamp duty changes and the pandemic, owner Peter Pearce decided to run a prize draw to try to sell his house.

Mr Pearce, a management consultant, said: “The prize draw was a chance to try something different. I genuinely believed in my triple objectives, to move house, change someone’s life and raise money for charity. It seemed like a perfect solution - £2 tickets makes it accessible. I wanted everybody to have the opportunity to win this house.”

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Mr Pearce needed to sell 750,000 tickets and raise £1.5million to guarantee the reserve price of the house sale, cover stamp duty, fees and donations to his two chosen charities, Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice near Arundel and St Barnabas House hospice in Worthing.

He sold 433,943 tickets, including free tickets for referrals and postal entries.

Unfortunately, these ticket sales were not enough to sell the house. Instead, a cash prize of £365,305 were awarded to the raffle winner on Wednesday, December 9, at a live award ceremony, with Simon Bubloz, managing director of Windward Grove Estate and Letting Agents, as the master of ceremony.

Mr Bubloz said: “It’s all possible because of Peter. Congratulations to the winners.”

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The cash prize was raised from the ticket sales. The draw included purchased tickets, free tickets and postal entries. The winning number was 2009B6 and James, who won the money, bought 22 tickets. He currently lives abroad but has links to Sussex and Hampshire.

Gary won £10,000. This prize was awarded to the person who got the most other people involved in the prize draw. Gary made more than 500 referrals to friends and family.

Katrina won a £3,000 referral prize, which was open to everyone who referred two other people to the prize draw.

She spoke to Mr Pearce during a live telephone call and said she was at the Duke of Wellington pub in Shoreham when she bought tickets. Her father worked on the roof of Painter’s Keep.

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Katrina said: “I’ll save the money for a nice holiday. I helped the hospice, I’m so pleased to help.”

In total, 80 per cent of the proceeds were awarded in prize money, less the costs of running the prize draw, and 10 per cent of the gross ticket sales, which amounts to £78,051, will go to the chosen charities.

In his interview with Mr Bubloz, Mr Pearce explained the importance of the charities: “My father died at St Barnabas and we wanted the hospice to benefit. The care that they provide, the work they do, is one of those things that we keep out of our consciousness until we need it and if ever you’ve experienced it, you’ll know it’s incredible.

“They’re going through an incredibly tough time. Their income has been devastated because a vast amount of fundraising involves people getting together and they’ve not been able to do that.

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“So, Dad passing there was a tough experience but it was made a lot less tough by the care that they provided.”

Becki Jupp, fundraising and communications director at St Barnabas House, said thank you to Peter and everybody who has bought tickets.

She added: “It has been a really tricky year for fundraising. It costs around £13.5million to run both hospices every year.”

Asked about the future, Mr Pearce said he was looking forward to the next chapter.

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“I get quite upset about social distancing, when a toddler smiles at me, I can’t smile back because I have a mask on. Since the pandemic started, I want to be travelling, wake me up when it’s all over. I’d like to go to South America.

“We’ve looked at potential opportunities, I want to live a life that’s a lot more eclectic. Travelling, back for three months then off again. The house is not a negative tie. It’s near the beach. But 17 years is a long time, I’m ready to do new things.”

The draw was witnessed by Harry Tuke from Elite Law Solicitors in Hove.

He said: “This is an eye opener, I’ve never been involved in a competition before but they’re becoming increasingly popular. I’m a big supporter of it. People have been forced to think outside the box, spend a small amount of money for a potentially very large reward.”

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Roz Scott is a freelance journalist working in Sussex. You can subscribe to her blog at www.rozscott.com or follow her on twitter @RozScottBN3

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