RISING food prices will not be a concern for Mary Palmieri for the next year - after winning a super shopping competition in the Evening Star.Mrs Palmieri, of The Street, Nacton, has won a year's free shopping with vouchers worth £5,200 thanks to the Star teaming up with the East of England Co-operative Society.

RISING food prices will not be a concern for Mary Palmieri for the next year - after winning a super shopping competition in the Evening Star.

Mrs Palmieri, of The Street, Nacton, has won a year's free shopping with vouchers worth £5,200 thanks to the Star teaming up with the East of England Co-operative Society.

The competition celebrated the society's £1.2 million refurbishment of its Felixstowe stores, a complete modern makeover and re-styling for the supermarket, pharmacy, opticians, Home Store and filling station, extending the ranges of products and improving the shopping experience for its customers.

Readers had to collect vouchers to enter the six-week competition with the winner drawn at random and receiving £100 of vouchers a week for a year.

Grandmother Mrs Palmieri, whose husband Gino runs Gino's hairdressers in Falcon Street, Ipswich, was thrilled with the prize.

“It's fantastic - I just could not believe it when they said I had won,” she said.

“I have entered a few competitions in the past but I think the most I have ever won is a bottle of tomato sauce!

“This is just amazing and will make such a difference to us over the next year.

“I am looking forward to treating my family and friends.”

Mrs Palmieri, who has two sons and five grandchildren, shops regularly at the East of England Co-op stores and has been a shareholder for nearly 50 years.

“My mother was a shareholder, too, and I can still remember her number as easily as my own,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the Evening Star's marketing and promotions department said the competition had been one of the most popular ever run.

“We had a huge response to the competition - we were overwhelmed with entries from both Ipswich and Felixstowe readers who had to post their entries into the boxes provided by the Co-op in all their Felixstowe outlets,” she said.

What do you think of the Coop? Are you a regular shopper there? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk