Summer's On Us For Thurso

A SHOCKED electrician thanked his late gran for his £150,000 prize - 14 years after she won in the same small coastal town.

Garry started playing after his nan landed a £6,500 share of a Postcode Lottery win in Thurso, Caithness, in April 2010, and even picked up the winnings for her.

Sadly, his beloved gran, Jean, died earlier this month before seeing his win after going into hospital for an operation.

The heartache came just two years after Garry's electrician dad Walter was found dead on a North Sea drilling rig, aged just 48.

Garry said, "I definitely think my nan and my dad have had something to do with this. I believe something has been done up there.

"Nan was doing the Postcode Lottery and she won £6,500. It's one of the reasons I started playing. My grandad died and then my nan won a month after that. Now my nan has just died and I'm winning a month after that."

He added, "It's about time the sun was shining on us."

Dad-of-two Garry and 10 neighbours in Thurso - Britain's most northerly town - are celebrating after KW14 7DU won our latest Summer's On Us prize. Every ticket was worth £150,000, but one neighbour scooped £450,000 with three tickets - meaning the close-knit street shared a total of £1.95 Million.

It comes almost exactly 14 years after players in the town celebrated after sharing a £2.1 Million prize.

Now Garry said the win will accelerate plans for him, school kitchen assistant wife Christina, and their two young children, to start a new life in Spain.

The self-employed sparky - who collected his gran's cheque for her at a presentation in local park 'The Dammies' more than a decade ago - said, "I've been awake since 3.30am. I'm speechless. This will take a few days to process.

"We've been thinking about moving away. We've been planning on going to Spain for a couple of years now. We'd like to live just outside Alicante. This is genuinely life-changing for us."

"It's more of a reality for us now. There are a lot more visa options and we are in the process of speaking to a lot of different people. We can just start the process properly now.

"I've found lots of houses we like. I've been looking for the last few years.

"We were meant to move years ago when I was a child, but my dad ended up with cancer and it fell through."

He added, "I've probably got it spent ten times in my head already, so I'll not be touching it."

Christina said, "I don't know how I feel. It's amazing. We do have a few plans for the future."

Directly opposite, Moira revealed she won £3,000 in 2010, then bought two more tickets - and has now pocketed £450,000.

The retired lecturer said, "My goodness, this is more money than I've ever had in my life.

"When the Postcode Lottery first started, I bought a ticket and won about £3,000 a few years ago. I decided then it was for a good cause and wanted to do something for charity, so bought two more tickets."

Then she added with a grin, "I might buy another three now."

Now the widowed mum-of-two, formerly of Durban, on the east coast of South Africa, wants to carry out home improvements in her semi.

She said, "I will have to think about how I'm going to spend it. The house needs work done and I need work done. I thought it might be around £50,000 to £90,000, but this hasn't quite sunk in yet. I never ever imagined it would be that much.

"I'll get repairs done to the house and things like new carpets. I grew up when we had this very cautious way of how to spend money, so I won't go mad.

"If my legs weren't so bad, I'd be going on a cruise round the world. For once I am lost for words."

Distillery worker daughter Susan said, "Mum is never short of something to say. This is amazing, well deserved.

"All I'm thinking about is all the things we want to do to make the house easier for Mum to get around. We'll do that now."

Moira added, "It is a lovely community. I love living in Thurso, it's the best place I've ever lived in and I'm delighted so many people are being helped."

Diagonally opposite, Moira's friend Catriona told how she signed up for Postcode Lottery after her late mother-in-law Helen won £3,000 in the previous town bonanza.

Catriona exclaimed, "Wow! This is amazing - crazy. I started playing after my mother-in-law won it on this street. I thought we would try it, but I never thought it would happen to us.

"My mother-in-law used it to pay for a new hip and it improved her life. Usually it doesn't come back, but it has. Thank you! I don't have words. I'm speechless."

Now the freelance bookkeeper, her wood processor husband Donald, and son Kyle, have big plans for the cash. She wants to upgrade her Peugeot 308, her son wants a trip to Italy, and her hubby fancies a Scandinavian cruise.

She said, "I need a new car and my son would like to go to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Donald and I would like a cruise - Norway, Finland, Sweden, that sort of way."

She added, "It's lovely to share it with our neighbours. It's nice that we've all got this money and nice that we can do something special in our own ways, and maybe together as well."

"We'll have a wee party and celebration - all of us in the street. During lockdown we all got together and held bingo sessions in the street and things like that."

And, like her next-door neighbours, she reckons there may have been a bit of divine intervention with her win.

She said, "Donald's mum has since passed away, and I lost my mum two years ago. This will be them saying, 'There you go!'"

Donald added, "We get reminders all the time."

Retired David will use his £150,000 in his hunt for another vintage tractor - and treat his model-making wife to a Star Wars Lego set.

David, who helps out on a local farm, won Best in Show a few weeks ago with his 48-year-old John Brown tractor. Now he wants to add to his collection by tracking down a Ford model, between 40 and 60 years old.

The grandad said, "I feel great about winning - fantastic, unbelievable. I've got a vintage tractor already, but I might look for another one."

His wife Zoe wants to add to her Star Wars Lego models with an AT-AT walker and Chewbacca.

She said, "I'm going to buy some more Star Wars Lego that I've been collecting and building. It's very therapeutic. I'd really like the AT-AT, I love that one. It's very expensive, but now I can get it."

Cheeky David winked, "It'll depend on the price!"

Mum-of-four Elsie wants a vacuum cleaner after bagging her second Postcode Lottery win.

Elsie pocketed around £4,000 14 years ago. But she took one look at her latest cheque for £150,000 and laughed, "I think it is an obscene amount of money. I thought £10,000 would have been nice."

She added, "I'm going to be needing a new vacuum, so I won't be saving up for that anymore."

The musical theatre fan might also treat herself to a production of the one show she has never seen - Sunset Boulevard - if she can catch it in London's West End.

She said, "I like any kind of theatre, but I love musical theatre. I've been singing all my life, even before I was talking.

"I've not seen anything in London. I've been, but I've never seen a show. I haven't seen Sunset Boulevard, so that could maybe be a thing."

The gran-of-six now plans to help her family - just as she did after the last time she won.

She said, "It was lovely to win that last time. The grandchildren were young then so they all got some money each.

"I'll help family this time if they let me. They've been very good to me. It's time to give a wee bit back."

Stunned couple James and Fiona won £150,000 each - after signing up following son Andrew's £15,000 win in 2010.

Mum-of-three Fiona said, "When he won, he was shell-shocked. He was blown away by it all. We thought, 'Why not give it a go?' and bought a ticket each. We always knew there was a chance. It's been worth the wait.

"We're both shocked. It's just a case of wow, we didn't expect to see this."

Retired carpenter James said, "We discussed it at length and thought we were probably looking at a minimal amount. We guessed maybe £1,500 each."

He added, "We're very content. This is a plus, an extra."

Fiona laughed, "Christmas is sorted for a few years."

Restaurant boss Mohammad was urged to play by a friend - and bagged £150,000 just seven months later.

The dad-of-one said, "This is unbelievable. Thank you very, very much. I'm very pleased that lots of people have lots of money. We have very good neighbours. It's a very good community."

Mohammad said he and wife Khaleda may now donate money to orphans in his native Bangladesh.

He plans to fly home to visit his elderly mum Saleha, who is ill in hospital after suffering a stroke.

And the couple have also been making moves to buy their rented home.

He said, "I will send some money to Bangladesh and try to buy our house. The rest will be for my family."

Great-gran Thelma landed £150,000 just a few years after winning £78,000 in another competition.

Shocked Thelma said, "This feels just magic. I don't know what I'm going to do with this. I used to go quite a lot to Cyprus and Tenerife, so a nice holiday maybe. I've also got lots of grandkids and great grandkids."

"I couldn't believe it when I got the phone call about this. I said, 'Oh no, I'm winning again!' I needed to sit down because I thought I'd won a decent amount."

She added, "I started playing shortly after the big win up here and have been playing ever since."

Her youngest daughter Donna said, "She'll probably treat herself once all this settles in. I'm just so happy for her. She deserves it. She's nice to everyone."

Thousands Of Supported Projects

Today's prize is part of a draw promoted on behalf of Postcode Care Trust. Supported by our players, this trust provides grant funding to organisations that work to improve the health and lives of communities. Benefitting charities include Alzheimer's Society, Maggie's, and Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance.

With 33% of the ticket price going to Charities, our players have now raised more than £1.3 Billion for good causes across Great Britain and internationally. People's Postcode Lottery players have funded thousands of deserving projects protecting people and the planet.

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