A lottery syndicate made up of teachers and staff from the Brooklands Primary School in Brantham, Suffolk, bagged a £1 million prize last week when their ticket won the UK EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle selection on Tuesday, October 21.
There are 23 people in the syndicate so each member will receive a £43,478.26 share of the prize.
Recalling the moment she realized they had won, syndicate leader Helju Cross, 52, said: "I popped into the newsagent to have the tickets checked and was delighted that we’d won £6, then another £2; so imagine my surprise when I was told that our third winning ticket was too much to pay out there and then. I must have been in shock because when the shopkeeper asked if I'd like to check the numbers I said no and hurriedly left the shop planning on checking the numbers online."
Actually getting around to checking the numbers took her some time though. Work kept getting in the way, so Cross never go around to inspecting the numbers more closely until she was inside her mother's car and about to go for lunch. Then when she did go online, using her tablet computer, she initially failed to see how the prize had been won.
"I was mortified when I saw the numbers didn’t match," Cross said, "until I moved to the Millionaire Raffle selection and saw that the very first ticket had exactly the same combination."
Many of the syndicate members are now busy planning exotic vacations, but sixty-three-year-old Ken Dodd is the exception.
"I've no plans to spend the money but it’s definitely a very welcome addition to my pension pot and gives me greater peace of mind," he said.
