A pensioner from Throwleigh has enjoyed a warm and cosy Christmas with her daughter and friends this year, free from the worry of heating oil bills, thanks to an early Christmas present from Okehampton-based Moorland Fuels.

In a surprise announcement, the company contacted Dawn Hatton to tell her she was the inaugural winner of the Moorland Fuels Cosy Heating Club quarterly heating oil draw.

Commenting on her good fortune just before Christmas, Mrs Hatton said: “Many people of my age are going to struggle this winter following the end of winter fuel payments, so to get a call to let me know that I’d won 500 litres of heating oil was just so lovely. All my friends in the village are celebrating.

“The humanity of it was wonderful. I live on my own and my house is quite isolated, but heating oil keeps me independent. Now I can have friends and family to visit, and I won’t need to worry about the cost of heating my home when they are here.

“What’s particularly lovely is that my daughter is coming to visit all the from Australia, where it’s 30 degrees. I live 800m above sea level, which means it’s always cold here. But this year, I won’t need to worry about that. We can look forward to spending time together in warmth.”

Dawn added: “It gives me a great sense of being cared for, and that is terribly important to me. I think it’s wonderful that a local employee-owned company is giving back to its customers, and in that spirit, I plan to make a donation to our local foodbank. I can’t thank Moorland Fuels enough for making my Christmas.”

Matthew Crockett, group managing director of Moorland Fuels, explained: “In 2022, we transferred ownership of the business to our workforce. Since then, we have evolved into a business that is 100 per cent focused on our customers and rewarding them for their loyalty.

“That’s why we set up the Cosy Heating Club, which was established for our monthly Direct Debit customers. It’s free to join, and full of great benefits and rewards, including the free 500 litre quarterly heating oil draw.”

Matthew added: “Mrs Hatton didn’t know that she was in line to win, quite simply because we wanted our first winner to be an existing loyal customer, so it was done entirely in secret!”