Comedian Ed Byrne dived into a yellow zorb to draw the winning ticket for the St Clare Spring Raffle, which has raised a record-breaking £32,251.

Submerged in more than 32,000 tickets, the Irish funnyman pulled Vera Morley’s name from the giant inflatable as St Clare staff, volunteers, patients and guests gathered in the Hospice courtyard to watch.

As the first prize winner, Mrs Morley, from Old Harlow, has won the keys to a brand new Ford Studio KA after we teamed up with local Ford dealership Gates of Harlow.

The second prize of £1,500 cash went to Vera Eley, from Harlow, while the third prize of £1,000 of holiday vouchers was won by Penny Hampson, one of the Specialist Palliative Care Nurses at the Hospice.

Ed, who lives with his family in Henham, said he was delighted to be invited to draw the Spring Raffle in support of his local Hospice.

St Clare director of fundraising and marketing Elizabeth Palfreman said: “It was great to have Ed here at the hospice for the draw – he was such a good sport agreeing to get into the zorb to draw the winning ticket much to the delight of everyone who gathered to watch.

“We would like to say a huge congratulations to all three of our lucky winners and a big thank you to every single person who bought a ticket to help raise an incredible amount of money and make this year’s Spring Raffle our most successful ever.”

St Clare Hospice is a charity providing specialist care for people living with life-limiting illnesses in west Essex and east Herts border area.

The charity cares for patients and their families, providing physical, social, psychological and spiritual support. St Clare Hospice’s annual running costs total £2.8m, 70 per cent of which comes from voluntary income.