A TEACHING assistant and a receptionist are among the lucky winners sharing a £3.2 million lottery prize.
Hundreds of residents in Lancaster are celebrating after their area was selected in the People’s Postcode Lottery on Saturday.
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More than 750 people picked up cheques with eight lucky neighbours in the full winning postcode taking home £200, 000 each.
Amie Walling, 37 and her husband James, 40, plan to spend the windfall on a new house and bottles of PRIME for their daughter.
Amie, a teaching assistant at a special needs and disabilities school, said: “We’re cramped in this two-bedroom house with our two girls.
“Now we can move somewhere that’s big enough for us all.
“My heart was beating really fast – it’s more zeroes than I was expecting.”
James, a machine driver at a quarry, added: “We had a plan and it was a ten-year plan. Now it’s a next week plan.”
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The couple also promised their eight-year-old daughter Theia a treat involving the viral energy drink Prime.
James said: “I told Theia if we won £1,000 we could get all the Prime flavours – we’ll need to go on the hunt now!”
Amie said the win would have a big impact on the community: “Times have been hard for everyone recently so for a street like this to win, you’ve no idea what that means.”
Great-grandmother Isobel, 65, who is an admin assistant at the University of Cumbria, was gobsmacked after winning the bumper prize.
She said: “This is going to be life changing.
“My husband, Norman, was diagnosed with dementia four years ago and I just try to handle it the best I can.
“I just get by day-to-day so this is going to help us so much.
“I didn’t expect it to be this amount of money. I just can’t register it.”
Isobel has lived in the area since she was seven years old and is a grandmother of eight, and a great grandmother or two.
She said: “I want to treat the people who have helped me get through in life.
“And I’ll go and get my hair and my nails done.
“That’ll be my treat to myself.”
Ria Plawecki, 31, was joined by her husband Ross, 32, when she got a knock on her door from the Postcode Lottery.
Mum-of-two Ria, who works at a nearby doctors’ surgery, said: “I never win anything, not even a pound on a scratch card – I keep expecting someone to tell me it’s all a joke.
“I can’t drive, so the first thing I’m going to do is get some driving lessons and a shiny new car.
“I’m sure the children will have a long list and there’s definitely going to be some holidays too – maybe to Disney World.”
Mum-of-one Sara McGonnell , 56, became emotional when she saw how much she’d won.
She said: “All that’s going through my head right now is that I can buy my mum a headstone, a brand new one.
“She died in 1988 when she was just 52, and this is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while but I haven’t been able to.
“This means a lot.”
Sara was sceptical when she got the phone call to tell her she’d won.
She said: “I thought it was a scam. I can’t believe it.
“I’ll be spoiling my son and my family. And I’ll be able to go on holiday to Florida and do it in style now!”
The remaining 744 people playing in the winning postcode area received cheques ranging from £1,965 to £7,860, depending on how many tickets they play with.
People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Danyl Johnson said: “It was a pleasure to deliver good news and golden envelopes to some of our lucky winners in Lancaster.
“I’ve loved hearing their plans for the prize money and I’m sure there will be plenty of celebrations happening across LA1 5 this bank holiday weekend.”
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