Raffle brings in over £500 for Llangollen Railway appeal

* Cat Meade's wheel of fortune produced over £500 for Llangollen Railway in yesterday's raffle.

Llangollen Railway has sent out a big thank you to Llangollen Raffles for raising over £500 to help it survive the coronavirus lockdown.

Its closure about two months ago due to the Covid-19 threat has plunged the heritage railway into a financial crisis.

It has so far raised over £75,000 from a public appeal and also has cash from a share issue.

But the railway says more money is needed to help keep the top tourist attraction in business.

Yesterday (Saturday) Llangollen Raffles, which was started by Cat Meade of Llangollen Coronavirus Support Group, did its bit by holding one of its largest ever games which saw all £535 in proceeds being donated to the railway.

There was a host of worthwhile prizes in the raffle, all of which were donated by businesses in the area.

Top prize included £50 in cash donated by a local resident, a limited edition print from Witzend Gallery, a box of fruit and veg from Dee Valley Produce, afternoon tea for two from Pretty Vintage Tearoom and Barista Coffee, a necklace from Llangollen Museum and a mounted vintage railway postcard.

There was a total of 10 valuable prizes available at £5 per ticket.

   

Railway general manager Liz McGuinness said: “A huge thank you to Cat Meade and Llangollen Raffles for their fabulous, very kind donation to Llangollen Railway.

“We will support future raffles as much as we can.

“We hope we can be back together soon and work together to make Llangollen the place to visit.”

* The Coronavirus group itself is celebrating its volunteers distributing over 3,000 information leaflets over the past few days.

Cat Meade posted on Facebook:  

"Thank you to ALL Volunteers who distributed today and will continue tomorrow 👍

Thank you to Cath Miller Sandra Forkin Gareth Williams and Charlie Jones who helped pack over 200 each 👏👏

BIG Thank you to Mrs Meade (aka my mum) at age 79 sat for 2 days packing over 1500 leaflets 👏👏 while Im trying to work and help 🙃

We have supported over 15 local businesses with this FREE distribution and to advise locals on support out there for you ❤

This is a REAL Community effort 👏👏👏

The support group has raised almost £3000 these past 7 weeks, which is great and has been used to continue the group. WE are aiming for another possible few weeks, so will need more support and funds to continue.

PLEASE support the group with as little or as much as you can, we want to keep supporting you."