A woman is raffling off her house and car after being diagnosed with an incurable heart disease and is currently recovering from a bout of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Mum-of-two Jennifer Matthews and her husband David decided to raffle off their five-bed detached house – named Bramble Lodge, near Adlington in Lancashire – after the 48-year-old, who runs an electrical engineering company, was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia in 2016 and, after collapsing twice in 2018 and 2019, has not been able to work as much.
Jennifer’s condition devastatingly cannot be treated, which means she has a fast and abnormal heart rate.
And although Jennifer said she feels “lucky to be alive” – having had heart surgery in mid-2019 in an unsuccessful attempt to try to boost her electrolytes to a normal level – the couple have been forced to make the difficult decision to sell their home and downscale.
The Matthews’ are selling their £600,000 home after building their house from the ground up eight years ago.
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The stunning luxury home has five double bedrooms, a massive garden, a £7,000 Aga cooker, and on top of that, also comes with a 2004 Ferrari 360 Spider – which is “thrilling” to drive, according to the couple.
And you could be in with a chance of winning it for just £2.
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Raffall.com / Jennifer Matthews
Jennifer said she was saddened to sell her “dream house”, but felt this was an opportunity for another family to get the deal of a lifetime for just £2.
She told LancsLive: “I’ve got a fatal heart condition which can’t be treated [and] it’s nearly taken my life a few times. We’re going through the process of selling the house because of it. I come from nothing and I thought I’d love someone to have a house like this and have a Ferrari.
“Ryan Giggs used to live across the street, it’s a lovely area [and] someone could get a dream house for just £2.”
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She continued: “I think it’s a dream house because everyone has always told us that if they’d won the lottery, they’d buy my house, and it’s marvellous and thrilling driving a Ferrari – it’s not every day you get to ride in one.”
The Matthews’ had previously tried to sell the home the “conventional way”, but the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic initially made it a struggle, and then when the first national lockdown ended, they were bombarded with viewings and Jennifer said she struggled to deal with them as she was exhausted and worried about her health.
Jennifer continued: “We bought the land in 2012 and moved in August 2012, built it all in seven months,
“We worked so hard [and] poured our heart and soul into the house.
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“When the restrictions ended we were inundated with viewings and a few offers, but it made matters worse because I couldn’t manage all the viewings, running my business, with my children, my dogs, five six viewings a day – I was shattered.
“I saw this other house come up for a raffle and wondered if it was real.”
After finding out that it very much was real – and having seen the modern method of raffling becoming increasingly popular to sell property during difficult times – the Matthews’ jumped at the opportunity to list their home on the site and see what happens.
“I come from nothing and I thought I’d love someone to have a house like this and have a Ferrari.” said Jennifer.
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Tickets to enter the raffle cost just £2, with the closing date being Sunday 14th February 2021 at 11:45pm (or when the last ticket is sold, whichever sooner).
The celebrities who could come to Manchester for the MTV EMAs this week
Daisy Jackson
The MTV EMAs will touch down in Manchester this week, bringing a mass of famous faces and celebrities to our city for a night celebrating the music industry.
The star-studded event will be taking place at the Co-op Live on Sunday 10 November, and also streamed and broadcast live.
Now in its 30th year, the MTV EMAs celebrates the biggest and best of the music industry across genres, with categories honouring the best music videos, collaborations, live shows and even fanbases.
This is the first time the global music celebration has ever been held in our city and it’s expected to attract some of the hottest names in the industry.
There’s a big chance, based off the nominees and already-announced performers, that we’ll have some of the world’s biggest A-listers staying in Manchester, booking up luxury hotel rooms and restaurants.
Host venue Co-op Live has sent the rumour mill into overdrive this week by sharing photos of famous faces who have previously attended the EMAs.
It posted photos of celebrities like Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, all of whom have graced the MTV EMAs stage either as performer or to receive an award over the years.
Not since last year’s surreal Chanel Metiers D’Art show, where the Northern Quarter was turned into a catwalk and Hugh Grant and Kristen Stewart popped up in town, have we been so excited about a potential event guest list.
We do know quite a few celebrities who will definitely be attending the MTV EMAs, including those who are performing, presenting or hosting at the glittering ceremony.
British R&B queen Raye, the iconic Pet Shop Boys, and backflipping crooner Benson Boone are all among those performing at the MTV EMAs in Manchester.
Also on the bill will be Shawn Mendes, Teddy Swims, Tyla, The Warning, Le Sserafim, and Peso Pluma.
Busta Rhymes is also set to receive the 2024 EMA Global Icon Award.
Taylor Swift could be among the celebrities at the MTV EMAs in ManchesterCredit: Instagram, @beyonce
Then there are the presenters, including the main awards host Rita Ora, plus awards presenters already announced like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Turner-Smith and Lucien Laviscount.
But then there are all the big names on the nominees list, who may appear in person or may just opt to send pre-recorded messages of acceptance.
Taylor Swift herself is leading the nominations for the MTV EMAs for a second year running, with seven nods, with other top contenders including Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, Charli XCX and Ariana Grande.
It’s a huge deal for Manchester to be the host city, especially with our very own Liam Gallagher going up agains rock icons like Bon Jovi, Coldplay, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Lenny Kravitz and The Killers in the Best Rock category.
Beyonce herself is nominated for a few, as is this summer’s music darling Chappell Roan, plus nods for Post Malone and Lady Gaga.
You can see the full list of nominees for the MTV EMAs – and thus the potential celebrities you could spot – HERE.
Has Liam Gallagher just casually confirmed that a new Oasis album is coming?
Danny Jones
Liam Gallagher is playing his usual social media mind games to perfection as it looks like he might have just revealed that a new Oasis album is on the way.
Keeping close watch on his social media needs to be someone’s full-time job, honestly.
The younger Gallagher sibling and his older brother Noel have finally patched things up after a decade and a half and barring a big bust-up on the first day of their upcoming reunion shows, the world will soon be able to see them back touring again next summer.
A comeback on its own was something we never thought we’d actually live to see come to fruition but now it looks like not only will be once again seeing the Burnage boys performing their many hits but they may or may not have been working on a new Oasis album. It all started back in September, actually.
Liam, 52, has been enjoying some playful back-and-forth with Oasis fans ever since the comeback was confirmed in August and the talk of new/unreleased music has been rumbling for a while.
Responding to a fan on 7 September, who asked point blank if it was true that a new album was on the way, “Yep it’s already finished.”
Then, as the days rolled into November, LG began swapping out the usual ‘RASTAS’ and ‘BUMBALCART’ tweets with two very random on-brand and what we presumed were merely innocuous words: “SPIRITUAL” and, most recently, “CELESTIAL”.
For a man who’s said the word ‘biblical’ more times than he’s had hot dinners, we didn’t make too much of it initially, but it was in his response to other fans on Saturday, 2 November and earlier this week that’s started to grab attention, even responding to a so-called leak about the number of the track listing.
As always, take this stuff with a big ol’ pinch of salt.
All that being said, the last time he did this sort of stuff it was about the support acts for the Oasis reunion tour and he wasn’t lying then, so who knows? Maybe we really are going to get the long-awaited eighth album from Oasis for the first time since 2008.
Elsewhere, the frontman has been joking that he and Noel are practically the best of friends nowadays and almost pretending that there was never any bad blood, adding that he’ll be on his “best behaviour” when they head out on the road for their first tour date at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff in July.
Liam has also made it clear he’d much rather keep the Oasis reunion train rolling after the ‘Live ’25 World Tour’ ends than return to a solo career – as for Noel, he could always go back to his High Flying Birds project or maybe even switch industries…
Emily Sergeant -
18th January 2021 
