A BIG-hearted senior citizen who had never won anything in his life has hit the jackpot in Saints' lottery - and promptly donated more than half to the children's ward at Whiston Hospital!

Seventy-eight-year-old Patrick Hammond, of Cross Street, Prescot, who is not a Saints' supporter, could hardly believe his ears when club promotions manager Tony Parr rung to tell him that he had scooped a cool £2,115.

And in making his extremely generous gesture, Pat, as he likes to be called, kept just £1,000 and was honouring the promise he made to his late wife Nora on joining the weekly sweep five years ago - that Whiston Hospital would be first to benefit if his lucky number came up.

Said Mr Hammond: "I have been a patient there on no fewer than 16 occasions, and who better to share in my good fortune following the wonderful treatment I received from the medical staff and nurses? And anyway I have no children and do not need that kind of money at my time of life."

A former BICC employee, Pat served in the King's Liverpool Regiment for seven years during World War Two and was torpedoed while on the hazardous convoys to Russia. The living room of his cosy home is adorned with souvenirs of those dark days.

He was a keen Evertonian in his younger days and was on first-name terms with such soccer legends as centre-forward Bill 'Dixie' Dean and goalkeeper Ted Sager, but has visited his beloved Goodison Park only rarely in recent years.

Pat's first contact with oval-ball matters came when he was steward at St Luke's Club, Whiston in the 1960s, when Knowsley Road stars such as Brian Briggs, Ab Terry, Duggie Greenall and Dick Huddart dropped in from time to time. "I once told Dick Huddart off for ripping the cloth on the snooker table," he recalls.

Mr Hammond also used to enjoy a game of dominoes with Saints' chairman Eric Ashton at the Black Horse Hotel, Rainhill, a few years ago, and was present at the match against Australia when the floodlights were switched on for the first time in 1973.

"I am not a gambling man as such," added Pat, "but if ever I struck lucky on the National Lottery there are no prizes for guessing where a lot of the cash would go!"

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