Framfield Millionaire Street

A GRATEFUL Gatwick airport worker has told us how landing a share of a £1 million prize has given his family a big lift during his daughter's cancer battle.

Paul Tolhurst said winning £142,857 signals a change in his family's fortunes as his daughter Hayley endures her last month of chemotherapy for cervical cancer.

Amazingly, it's Paul's second Postcode Lottery win. He pocketed £10,649 in December 2014 when the postcode area of Uckfield shared a £2 million prize.

Now Paul - who has two children and three grandchildren - wants to jet off on a lavish holiday after years of loading luggage and pushing back airliners for takeoff.

Paul, of Framfield, East Sussex, said: "It's just wonderful! The lift this is going to give my family, it's like something from God.

"It's been a really difficult year; my daughter is suffering with cervical cancer, and she's had the operations, and she's coming through. It's all positive news now.

"This is a life-changing amount of money, and this is going to definitely make a difference to her life and to my family's lives."

Paul and five neighbours shared £1 million when TN22 5PG won today's Millionaire Street prize. Every winning ticket was worth £142,857.

One of the winners doubled their win to £285,714, as they played with two tickets.

When his six-figure prize was revealed, Paul Tolhurst teared up and spoke of the traumatic year that preceded his big win.

He said: "Cancer is something that can hit anyone. My daughter Hayley is only 30. She had a smear test and they discovered stage 3 cancer.

"Since then my whole life has been on my daughter, and we've just been hoping and praying that she gets through. I can't tell you how hard it was at Christmas; we just didn't know and we were just waiting for the op.

"Doctors told us we had to prepare for the worst, where her three kids were going to go. It was just horrible."

His daughter Hayley was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer eight months ago. After two operations, the mum-of-three is now undergoing her last month of chemotherapy and is on the road to being cancer-free.

Paul added: "I just feel this is like an act of God, and I will be able to support her even more.

"Hayley has done really well to cope with it. She's going to be absolutely excited when I tell her how much we've won, and it's going to be like an injection of energy."

Paul has also faced struggles with his own health recently.

He said: "It's been a really tough year as a family, and I've been struggling to cope with the stress of everything, and I've had my own mental health issues.

"I was in a really dark place. It affected me quite bad over the winter period. Luckily, my work was brilliant with me, and in the last few months I'm starting to feel myself again."

It's not the first time Paul's picked up a big Postcode Lottery cheque, as he banked a small slice of a £2m pot more than a decade ago when his TN22 5 postcode sector won a Postcode Millions prize.

Paul scored £10,649 back then, and he's the only person on the street who has been playing with the same postcode continuously for 11 years.

He said: "Lightning has struck twice, I can't believe it. Maybe this is a very lucky address.

"I won very soon after I started playing. I think it was my late mum who played, and then we signed up, and all of a sudden, on Christmas of 2014, a golden ticket arrived through the door.

"It came at a beautiful time, and I couldn't believe it back then. I'd never won anything before then. I've never looked back; I've always played despite thinking I may never win again as you feel that you're genuinely contributing to the good of many causes."

Often helping passengers jet off from London Gatwick's runway, Paul is now set to take to the skies with his wife Jackie to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.

He said: "I think we'll take a flight and then go on a cruise. We did one not long after I won the first time for our 25th wedding anniversary. We went to the Caribbean and the Amazon, so that was something special.

"I load and unload aircraft and think about holidays all the time. I see people every day go on holiday, and you sort of think one day I will get that pleasure again, but you always put other things first."

Through the wall, next-door neighbour Lee Bell also celebrated a £142,857 cheque, but he wasn't home when our Postcode Lottery camera crew turned up.

Truck driver Lee was out working, but when Postcode Lottery's Danyl Johnson arrived at his door, his wife Sam answered and video-called Lee for the big reveal.

Lee almost leapt out of his driver's seat when he caught a glimpse of the stunning sum through FaceTime.

He said: "Bloody hell! I'm shocked. I didn't expect anything more than a grand. I'm blown away."

Sam added: "This happens to other people, doesn't it? It doesn't happen to us."

Danyl joked: "I think that was worth pulling the truck over."

A stunned Sam also told us how much the bumper windfall would impact their lives.

She said: "Lee's just got a new job, and he's coming off the road. We were going to be on less money, but we were doing it for quality of life. So, this is going to help with that and more.

"He's been working away most of the week for over two years. He doesn't sleep in his own bed; he sleeps in his truck. He doesn't eat meals at home; he eats microwave meals.

"I get my husband and a ton of money that I didn't expect. It couldn't be better."

Sam, a learning and performance advisor for a construction company, said their dreams of moving abroad when they both retire are one step closer.

She said: "We'd like to go abroad when we retire, and we're creeping towards that, so it's just really going to help that dream come true."

The couple, who have three children between them, is also planning to splash out on their upcoming holiday.

Sam said: "We're going to Turkey next month, and I was wondering what we were going to do about spending money, but that's not going to be a problem now."

The keen ravers are also hoping to sound out some more DJ tech.

Sam said: "We've got like a club amount of DJ equipment in the house, so I'm sure there'll probably be an addition to that. Lee is the one with the list, I just go with the flow."

Another £142,857 winner was John Boobier, who plans to restore his classic car and treat his recently rescued dog to a sparkly new collar.

John received his cheque alongside his wife Anne, and the great-grandparents were gobsmacked when they found out how much he'd won.

John, who worked in the merchant navy, said: "It's hard to grasp it right now. Whatever we've had in the past, we've had to work for, and it's as simple as that."

This week, the cheerful couple celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary.

John said: "We'll be able to go and get a steak dinner now."

Only 10 days ago, the Boobiers adopted a six-year-old pomeranian and dachshund cross called Mabel, and they plan to spoil their new furry companion even more.

Anne said: "Now she'll be able to have a diamond-studded collar. I said that before we knew how much we'd won when I was teasing John, as he said we won't win that much."

John is now looking to get his prized possession, an MG sports car, back on the road.

He said: "I'll get my MG sorted out; I've had ongoing restoration problems. We took it out for a run the other day and it let us down, so I think I need it checked out.

"I could buy a new one with all this money."

John and Anne are also looking forward to treating their six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren with their winnings.

Alan Pidgeon also bagged the same prize and admitted that the nervous wait to find out how much they'd won led him and his wife Jean to eat hot cross buns at 4am.

Alan said: "I'm feeling ecstatic and still in shock, but a nice shock."

Jean added: "We didn't sleep. At four o'clock in the morning I got up and did a hot cross bun, and then Alan smelt that, and we were both up having a cup of tea wondering what we might win."

Jean wants to upgrade her out-of-date mobile phone and Alan is hoping to add a few new clubs to his golf set.

The neighbours were delighted to hear that local charities would benefit directly from their win.

Paul said: "One of the nicest things about Postcode Lottery is that it supports so many different charities. Especially moving to me are the cancer charities, like Breast Cancer Now and children's cancer charities. But to hear that local charities are being supported, too, is just fabulous.

"I always believe that if you help people, sometimes karma comes back to you."

Sky High Trampoline Gymnastics Academy has a spring in its step after it received a surprise funding award of £50,000 from Postcode Community Trust.

The charity's mission is to help people in the local community achieve their dreams of becoming gymnasts and reaching their potential in sports, regardless of age, background, or disability.

The charity runs a high-quality training facility called Fun Abounds Trampoline & Gymnastics Centre to achieve these aims.

Stella Jackson, Co-Founder of Sky High Trampoline Gymnastics Academy, said: "I decided to take the leap 13 years ago and set up Sky High Trampoline Gymnastics Academy alongside my colleague Gail Andrews.

"Little did we know then, the charity would not only change our lives, but the lives of thousands of others in our local community.

"Tamzyn, for example, is one of our adult service users with learning difficulties and has been coming to our Fun Abounds Trampoline & Gymnastics Centre for over 14 years now.

"It's amazing to see how much joy she gets from every session, and the progress she's made truly reminds us why we do what we do."

From local schools and adults and children with learning difficulties, to elderly people in care homes, the charity welcomes over 1,000 people through the door each month.

Stella added: "£50,000 is an incredible amount of money and means so much to a charity like ours. The generous funding will allow us to significantly improve the facilities of our Trampoline & Gymnastics Centre, making it even safer and more enjoyable for all who visit."

Good Causes Everywhere

Today's prize is part of a draw promoted on behalf of Postcode International Trust. Supported by our players, this trust delivers grant funding to organisations that work to alleviate poverty, hunger and enable food security. Benefitting charities include Action Against Hunger, ActionAid and British Red Cross.

With a minimum of 30% of each ticket price going to charities and good causes, players of People's Postcode Lottery have now raised more than £1.4 billion for thousands of projects and groups across the world.

Fantastic Prizes are announced every single day. It couldn't be easier to sign up - it only takes two minutes, and it might be the best decision you ever make. If you're not sure how to play, you can learn more about us in our How It Works guide.