SIX Christmas card workers got a dream present today when they were whisked away from Altham to spend a weekend in New York.

The workers at Hambledon Studios had entered a competition staged by a radio station offering offices in the region the chance to win an all expenses paid trip to the Big Apple.

The East Lancashire ladies - Angela Heaton, Kathleen Evans, Elizabeth O'Brien, Gail Webster, Kay Aspinall and Tina Maden - were down to the last five. And this morning staff at JFK International Airport in New York were asked to pick one of five envelopes to decide the winning firm.

Soon after a white limousine arrived at the Altham factory to pick them up and take them to Manchester Airport.

"It was chaos here this morning! Everyone was just running round trying to find out what had happened," said Sandra Livesey, supervisor at Hambledon Studios.

The competition had attracted entries from hundreds of groups of workers.

"It'll make a break from the Christmas cards!" said radio presenter John Morgan who staged the competition on his Century radio programme.

"I think I'm losing my hearing from all the cheering when I announced the winners."

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