A GREAT gran-of-five who bagged £111,000 on the Postcode Lottery will splash her windfall on garden gnomes.
Joan Buckingham says her obsession with the terracotta garden dwellers drives her family “insane”.
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But she couldn’t care less and is gearing up to add more pointy-hatted miniatures to her already 40-strong army.
The 74-year-old said of her win: “It’s unbelievable and absolutely beautiful.
“I’ve never needed much. I just really enjoy collecting and painting ornaments for my garden.”
The gnome addict picked up her first figurine at the local garden centre over a decade ago.
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Since then the collection has grown and grown.
She shares her passion for gnomes – said to bring good luck – with her great grand kids who like painting them.
Joan said: “My grandson bought me the biggest gnome – which stands at three-foot-tall – and when the kids come over, they each have their own pot and we all paint gnomes together.”
But Joan’s passion for the mythical humanoids isn’t for everyone in her family.
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Daughter Sam Buckingham, 51, joked: “I love her to bits, but she can drive me insane – everywhere we go it’s ‘oh have you seen that gnome over there?’
“‘Have we got enough room in the car? Can we get two?'”
Joan, who’s lived in her house for 40 years, will also treat her family and is planning a holiday to the US with her two sisters and brother-in-law.
She won a share of the £1,000,000 jackpot with eight other neighbours in south east Birmingham.
Each Shenley Lane resident has bagged exactly £111,111 from the Saturday October 21 draw.
Winners include supermarket worker Paula Kerman, 57, and hubby Michael, who say the win has “changed our lives overnight”.
They’re off to Benidorm for two weeks of autumn sun and plan on cracking open champagne on the way out to the Costa Del Sol.
The Kermans are also planning a memorial garden bench for the back garden to remember their late parents and friends.
