One lucky winner will be waking up this morning the owner of a £30,000 Land Rover Discovery Sport which Truro lottery winner Peter Congdon gave the Merlin MS Centre.

Great-grandfather, Peter, 67, won £13.5 million in the Camelot Lotto last year, and bought the vehicle for the Merlin Centre to use as its top prize in its annual draw. Since May when the draw was launched, the charity has been selling tickets at various events and venues throughout Cornwall, to help raise as much as possible from the generous gift. Mr Congdon was due to dive into the boot of vehicle last night (Tuesday) to pull out the winning ticket.

Sarah Snell, PR and fundraising manager for the charity, said: "We have taken this fantastic vehicle to some 50 events and shopping centres throughout Cornwall as well as having many people sell tickets on our behalf over the past six months. We were also donated other super prizes by individuals and organisations including cottage breaks, meals out and visitor attractions.

“This has enabled us to raise around £25,000 to support our service users, but just as importantly we have been out and about talking to people about the work we do, which has seen a significant increase in people using the centre in the past six months.”

At the Royal Cornwall Show in June, Mr Congdon unveiled his incredible gift of £1 million to the charity, to build a hydrotherapy pool, therapy rooms and refreshment area, alongside the existing therapy centre at Hewas Water, near St Austell. This is to be a lasting memory to his wife Rosemary, who had Multiple Sclerosis, to complement the services that are already provided by the charity.

Planning permission was granted at the end of November and the charity is now looking for suitable contractors to tender for the work. The total cost of the project including the building itself, equipment, additional car parking and professional fees will be around £1.6 million. A fundraising campaign, predominantly seeking funding from trusts and foundations, will be launched in January.

Sarah said: “We are incredibly fortunate to have such generous support from Peter and his family. Peter cared for his wife Rosemary for many years so he knows what an impact Multiple Sclerosis and other neurological conditions can have on families. Peter is also fully aware that we still need to meet our ongoing running costs of more than £400,000 to provide the vital services for 70 people a day – the Land Rover draw has helped towards our running costs this year.

“We are aware that some individuals and organisations feel we no longer need financial support. However, Peter’s donation is to fund a new facility which will require additional running costs. We still need to meet the ongoing operational costs of the services we provide now and those we wish to provide in the future."