When Brenda White bought a Sunday newspaper for its horoscopes, it never mentioned her biggest stroke of luck was just 24 hours away.

Raymond and Brenda White

For Mrs White, of Station Road, Wallingford, won a luxury cruise on the biggest and newest liner in the world, the Queen Mary 2.

She said: "I was astonished -- it was wonderful."

But the twist is that Mrs White cannot go on the cruise she won to New York on May 1 because she suffers ear problems and so could not travel on the flight back ten days later.

So her husband Raymond is going as a 70th birthday treat and taking their son David, who lives in Fludger Close, Wallingford.

It will be Raymond White's first trip overseas -- he has never sailed and, despite working at RAF Benson, never flown.

Mrs White, 64, said: "We had to rush around getting Raymond a passport. He's never needed one before."

The trip starts at Southampton from where they set sail for New York.

They have two days in New York staying at the Marriotts Renaissance Hotel overlooking Times Square and return by plane to Heathrow.

The Whites are being driven to Southampton by Wallingford mayor Betty Atkins.

She said: "I really want to see this ship."

Mr White said: "I'm looking forward to it. It will be a once in a lifetime experience.

"I've never been abroad, never sailed and never flown.

"I've no major plans in New York. I just want to see as much of it as I can.

"I watched all the programmes on the television about the QM2, its launching and its sailing into Southampton -- but I never dreamed I'd actually be going on a cruise on her."

Mrs White said: "He seems to be laid back about it all -- but he hasn't stopped grinning since he got the news."

The sequence of events started when Mr White got his Sunday paper from the garage in Station Road.

He said: "I saw the Mail on Sunday had the horoscope magazine in it and mentioned it when I got home."

Mrs White picked it up on her way to St Mary's for the Sunday service.

The paper offered a luxury cruise for two and Mrs White rang the number and just left her own telephone number as requested. She said: "We heard nothing that day and I forgot all about it, but when we got the phone call on Monday morning I could hardly believe it.

"I got it for the horoscopes but it never predicted anything like this. I'm so glad Raymond will have such a memorable 70th birthday. I wish I was going but with my ear trouble I could not have managed the flight home."