Feeling Lucky In Fareham

More than 450 Fareham residents celebrated as their postcode sector PO16 7 shared a £3 Million prize pot in March's Postcode Millions.

Four neighbours scooped £250,000 each thanks to playing in the full winning postcode PO16 7YH, with one doubling the prize to £500,000 by playing with two tickets. The remaining 452 residents received cheques ranging from £2,970 to £11,880, which were handed out by presenters Judie McCourt and Danyl Johnson.

Laura was our biggest winner of the day, scooping the incredible £500,000 prize. Handed a cheque for £250,000 from Danyl, Laura couldn't believe her luck when she received a second cheque for the same amount - all thanks to playing with two tickets!

Overcome with emotion, dialysis nurse Laura said, "Are you kidding me? Is this a dream? My heart is pounding. This will honestly change my life forever. I'm speechless!"

Dream Wedding Plans

Laura and her partner Charlotte have been saving for years to buy their own house and are planning the wedding of their dreams.

Laura said, "This means so much to us. We can finally buy our own place! We want to get married soon so the money will go towards that too. I'd love the wedding to be at Marwell Zoo so maybe we can rent the whole place out!"

It didn't end there for Laura though. Her mum Amanda was in Skegness when our team knocked on the family's door, but she too was a winner of £250,000. Laura phoned her to share the good news with her.

Amanda, an NHS analyst said, "£750,000 in one house! There's no excuse for Laura not to get me an amazing Mother's Day present now! My sons Philip, Robert, Michael and six grandchildren all deserve a treat - there's plenty to go around though. Laura and I will definitely be taking a mother-daughter trip together when I get back!"

Lynda was another lucky winner who took away £250,000. Lynda, a bookkeeper, had to hold on to her husband Richard for support after her winning amount was revealed.

She said, "We never win anything - I can't believe it! A quarter of a million pounds...I keep saying it hoping it will sink in but I don’t know if it ever will."

Still shaking from the reveal, when asked what she would do with the money, Lynda replied, "Spend it! My children Alex and Harry are coming to visit me next week so we can celebrate with them in style. We'll definitely need to take the kids away on holiday, we were planning to go to Devon or Cornwall but we'll need to go further afield now - we can go anywhere with this amount!"

Richard added, "We've got a really good community here, so it makes it extra special that we've all won together."

Retired hairdresser Susan and husband Rod are now planning an extra-special golden wedding celebration after Susan won £250,000.

The couple have two grown-up children and four grandchildren. Susan is drawing up plans for a family holiday to Thailand, and Rob is hoping to buy a luxury Jaguar XF car.

A Sensational Feeling

Judie presented Susan with her £250,000 cheque, as her family cheered.

Susan said, "We're going to help the children, help the grandchildren and we have a holiday to Thailand coming up. Our golden wedding is coming up too so we'll be able to have an extra nice celebration."

Asked why she plays People's Postcode Lottery, Susan added, "There's a chance of winning big and it helps so many charities as well as bringing the community together."

Rod said, "I am so emotional, it's unbelievable. I'm absolutely speechless at the moment, I don’t know what to say. It's a sensational feeling - it really is and I am so glad that we're helping charities by playing too."

Another big winner, Nicola, was so excited about finding out how much she had won that she woke at four o'clock in the morning! Her husband, Mark, was on hand as Judie revealed a cheque for £250,000.

Nicola said, "My son's 21st birthday is coming up so we have a party to plan. My daughter will be beginning driving lessons and now we'll be able to get her a little car to run around in.

"We weren't going to go on holiday this year, but we are now! I have seen Mamma Mia, so I'd like to go to the Greek islands."

Fareham has been particularly lucky with People's Postcode Lottery, with three postcodes all winning £25,000 each in the last few years. PO16 8PF won big in 2015, with PO14 4JQ and PO14 1EA both scooping prizes in 2016.

After helping Danyl hand out cheques to our lucky winners, Judie said, "Congratulations to all of our Fareham winners today! It's been lovely to meet them and find out what the prize money means to them. I hope they enjoy spending their winnings and treat themselves to something nice."

Good Causes Benefit

With People's Postcode Lottery, 32% of the ticket price goes to charities and good causes. Our players have raised over £404 Million to date. This Postcode Millions prize draw was part of a draw promoted by Postcode Care Trust, which supports national charities like Missing People.

The charity has received over £6 Million to date thanks to players. As well as searching for missing people, it provides support to the families and friends of those affected by a loved one going missing. One of these family members close to today's winners is Karen from Hampshire, whose son Matthew went missing a year ago.

Karen said, "Missing People continue to provide us with much-needed support since our son, Matt, went missing a year ago. The counselling sessions in particular have helped us as a family get through this difficult time and the media opportunities created have allowed us to raise awareness levels far beyond what we could achieve ourselves. It's reassuring to know that there is always someone there at the end of a phone 24/7 who can provide support, both practically and emotionally.  I truly don't know how we would have coped without them."

Another good cause close to our Fareham winners that has benefited from player support is Pompey in the Community. The group received £20,000 last year to help people from disadvantaged areas into employment through skills development - helping them to improve their confidence.

Not signed up to play? If not, find out How It Works and learn more about the amazing Prizes to be won.

You can see more photos of our fantastic Fareham winners in our March Postcode Millions Facebook Album.

The weekend also provided celebrations in other lucky postcodes. Two neighbours celebrated winning Saturday's Street Prize, whilst Sunday's Street Prize brought a £30,000 windfall for another player.