Almost three decades ago, my husband won £1,500 on the National Lottery shortly after it started.
When Colin* walked into his local post office to claim his winnings, the man behind the counter told him that people who win a small amount in the Lottery tend to win again.
‘Yes of course! “She was wrong about that,” we often joked together in the years that followed. Although Colin played every week, there was no such victory.
But one Wednesday night in February 2012, back when the Lottery results were televised, Colin stayed up to check his drawing numbers.
I had just gone to bed and, I don’t know why, I decided to pray that we would win.
Life-changing: A lottery-winning couple, who won £2.2 million in February 2012, chose to spend much of their winnings on cruises and travel.
The previous year had been hard for both of them. My brother had died in November, putting me out of action, while Colin, then 51, had fallen off a ladder. His skull was fractured in two places, he broke three ribs and broke a bone in his hand.
He was off duty as a self-employed gardener and, with me working as a part-time receptionist, we were starting to feel the pressure.
I’ll never forget Colin walking into the bedroom and saying, almost in a whisper, “I think I’ve won the lottery.”
Colin thought he had matched five numbers (six were needed to win the jackpot) and guessed he could have won around £50,000.
We tried calling Camelot, then the National Lottery operator, but they were unable to verify our ticket until the next morning.
Thus began one of the longest nights of my husband’s life. While he was snoring like crazy, Colin tells me that he was awake most of the night.
He went to bed thinking he might have won £50,000, the same amount as the remaining mortgage on our three-bedroom house in the Midlands.
But when Colin called Camelot first thing in the morning, he started crying. He tearfully told me: “We’ve won £2.2 million.”
And then my tears began to fall. Tears of unbridled joy. Our lives were about to change forever.
It only started to sink in when one of Camelot’s winners’ advisors visited us later that day to check our ticket. The money was in our account in less than a week. It was incredible to see our balance with so many zeros.
I immediately retired from my job as a receptionist, but Colin returned to work for three years.
Memories: The winning couple has shied away from material goods in recent years and opted to travel more, racking up 21 cruises, including two world cruises.
I couldn’t understand that I didn’t need to work anymore. And I guess it took us that long to fully adjust to our new wealth. Not surprising, given that we were suddenly thrust into a world where we didn’t have to worry about the size of our gas bill.
I had young grandchildren at the time of the victory, and anyone who has a young child knows that there is no way to stop them from saying certain things, which is why we made it public at the beginning. Today we try to keep it secret as much as possible; some people can be quite hostile.
The first thing we did after paying off our mortgage was go to a car showroom. A family friend who worked there recognized us immediately and knew of our windfall. We soon realized there was no hope of getting a discounted price for a car.
Colin could have bought any car he wanted. But my husband chose a £35,000 Mercedes-Benz Estate.
He has since bought two Range Rovers and a Jaguar F-Type. I also had a Mercedes-Benz B Class.
He has since slowed down his collection of fancy cars, although he always wanted a Bentley. Now he has a Lexus RX and I drive a Volkswagen Polo.
We installed a double garage for cars. It cost us £20,000, but we wanted to hide it when people came to quote us for jobs.
We also hid the photo collage in our kitchen where we received the comically large check at a nearby luxury hotel, since the workers might raise the price of the jobs if they saw this on our wall.
Some neighbors were delighted with us. Colin says he walked into our local store after winning and found it filled with our photographs. Colin loved it, but I didn’t set foot in that store for years; I was very ashamed.
Friends we’ve known since before victory act normally around us, but when we tell people we’ve just met they look at us like we have two heads.
Wheels: The couple first spent £35,000 on a Mercedes-Benz Estate. They have since purchased two Range Rovers, a Jaguar F-Type and a Mercedes-Benz B-Class.
Allwyn, who now operates the National Lottery, organizes volunteering activities with other winners.
The group signs up to do volunteer work, such as visiting nursing homes and renovating arboretum gardens. If you’ve been so lucky, you have to give back, right? We find it refreshing to meet people in the same situation as us.
It’s lovely because you can show off a little without feeling guilty, so I don’t need to hide the new bags I buy. Colin has bought me two Mulberry bags over the years.
We are friends with some of the other winners: we went out to dinner with a couple and a small group of us went to the funeral of another Lottery winner.
The first time I went to Selfridges in Birmingham after the windfall, I tried on a £300 cream and black satin dress. I couldn’t justify spending that much on a dress for myself, but then I remembered I could do it.
The most luxurious purchase we have made is our almost identical Oyster Perpetual Rolexes, which cost us just under £20,000.
Colin had always wanted one, so we visited Goldsmiths in Birmingham to pick out his dream watch. The jeweler asked me if I was buying one too, so I walked away with an £11,000 watch. We hid them on our trip home.
We have avoided material items in recent years and opted to travel more. Before we won, we took one cruise a year and had to book it for the entire year.
Since the victory we have been on 21 cruises, including two world cruises; a third is reserved for January 2025.
We had a cruise planned to the Caribbean for the month after our victory.
My husband says that when he got on the ship he felt a wave of excitement: we were on the same cruise the year before and just a year later he was there as a millionaire.
While we didn’t visit the Maldives on a cruise, our visit there was the best trip we’ve ever taken. We loved the resort so much that we went twice in the same year.
Public service: winning couple gives back to our community by picking up trash (file image)
The staff remembered us and couldn’t do enough for us. My husband remembers an embarrassing moment from the second time we visited.
The villa we were staying in had a great open view of the sea. The bushes were overgrown, so I couldn’t see the sea while lying in bed.
Colin casually mentioned it to a member of staff who happened by and they cut off the overgrowth in five minutes. We were mortified.
We’ve only flown first class once after another Lottery winner convinced us to take the leap. But we’ve never done it again because my husband says he can’t justify the price increase between business and first class.
While we have enjoyed our wealth, we do not keep it all to ourselves.
Over the years, Colin bought houses for my two daughters from a previous marriage and donated a defibrillator to my grandson’s special needs school, and we bought flowers for volunteers at the local cancer center.
We don’t feel rich enough to donate thousands of pounds at a time (the money would soon run out), but we do sponsor people and donate to charities here and there.
We gave back to our community by picking up litter, although we joked that people wouldn’t know we’d won the lottery if they saw us on the streets picking up crisp packets and drink bottles.
We now live in a four-bedroom single-family home with an electric gate just down the street from our old house.
We almost opted for an even grander property, but thank God we didn’t – we would never have been able to afford the upkeep.
We moved in a year after our win and it cost us £500,000, but my husband says he wouldn’t be surprised if it was now valued at close to £1m. We are very proud of it and the giant check hangs on our bedroom wall.
However, a reduction in size is planned for the future. We have three and a half bathrooms and we don’t use all of them; My husband tells me that he goes to the unused bathroom every few months just to flush.
Although £2.2 million is a life-changing amount, it doesn’t last. It is not enough that we can spend, spend and spend without restrictions.
And we have watched our once attractive boat slowly dwindle. It is incredibly difficult to balance spending. Colin is 13 years younger than me, so we need to make sure there is enough money to enjoy a comfortable life for the next 20 years or more.
The Lottery has given us a wonderful life. Aside from having children, it’s the best thing that can happen to anyone.
For anyone wondering if money makes you happy, it absolutely does.
as told to LUCIA EVANS
*Names have been changed.
- Has a Lottery prize changed your life? Tell us your story: l.evans@dailymail.co.uk
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