WINNER Peter Biles was celebrating today after scooping £1,000 in the Dorset Echo's Find the Ball contest.

Mr Biles, 72, of Cedar Drive, Weymouth, won the runner-up prize after being one of the closest to the ball in last week's competition.

But the retired legal cashier nearly didn't enter after a busy Bank Holiday weekend.

He said: "I usually take my entry to the Echo office in town but was too busy.

"I almost didn't enter but decided to post it to Southampton instead, and am glad I did."

Mr Biles used to work for Thos Coombes solicitors in Dorchester before the firm merged with Battens.

He has scooped three consolation prizes of £15 in Find the Ball in the last few years of entering and has won the £1,000 after there was no jackpot winner in last week's contest.

Now Mr Biles, who is involved with St Paul's Church in Abbotsbury Road and raised funds for Cancer Research, will put the cash towards clutch repairs on his Volvo car and for a washing machine.

He added: "It was quite a shock to win it.

"It is my birthday a week on Saturday as well so it is a nice present come early."

He added that his normal technique was to place the ball somewhere completely different to the players.

Mr Biles shared the £2,000 runners-up pot with Mrs R George, of Melville Street on the Isle of Wight, who also claimed £1,000.

The jackpot in tomorrow's contest stands at £32,000 and the runner's-up prize is £2,100.