Lucky neighbours scoop £30,000 each on Postcode Lottery

The trio’s postcode of S72 8LN, in Cudworth, was announced as a winner with the lottery yesterday.

The winners learned of their windfall via video call with lottery ambassador Matt Johnson.

Lucky winner Chris Francis, 59, burst into laughter on seeing the prize cheque and joked: “I think I need a drink!”

Chris’ partner, Lisa, was out of the house at the time of the call but he couldn’t wait to share the news, he said: “She’s going to be absolutely gobsmacked, she’ll be over the moon. She won’t believe it, I’m struggling to still believe it!”

The dad-of-two was also looking forward to treating the family with his winnings, he added: “My kids are going to be so thrilled when they find out. We’ll definitely be having more than one holiday. Because we haven’t been away this year and we didn’t go last year, I promised two or three holidays next year!

“I’ve always promised I’d take them to Cyprus, so that’ll definitely be on the list.”

Chris also said that the winnings may help the family move to a new home in the future: “We’ve wanted to move house, maybe look at buying a bigger house, with a bigger garden and drive. This is great little street, but you can’t get parked here for love or money!”

When he learned that some of his neighbours had also won, Chris added that he was so pleased for them, he said: “We might have a street party then! They’re brilliant neighbours, everyone on the street. Everyone gets stuck in together on this street.”

When she received her prize cheque, 41-year-old winner Luana Maki said: “Wow, wow! Thank you. That will make a lot of difference.”

Luana, who is currently studying to be a counsellor, lives with her daughter and was already planning on how she could use the winnings to treat her: “My daughter and I haven’t been away for years probably, it’ll be nice holiday.

“I’ve got family in Malaysia and my cousin is getting married in October in Germany so it means we can get over there as well. We like our spa weekends as well!”

When asked how she would celebrate the news, Luana’s first plans were a little closer to home though: “It’ll be a takeaway tonight so I don’t have to cook and a bottle of wine!”

As the news sank in, an emotional Luana added that she would treat her sister as soon as possible: “I can take my sister out as well. I’ve not seen her for almost a year now, it’s the longest we’ve not seen each other. It’ll be nice, just the two of us, going out and reconnecting, go out for a really nice meal and not have to worry about it.”

Jean Denman, 74, was the third winner on the street, and she and her husband Ray let out a big cheer after learning they had won £30,000. Jean said: “Wow, fantastic. I can’t believe that!”

"It’s like a dream come true! Because we’re retired, this is like a gold mine has come in for us.

“We don’t have a lot of money to spare each week, so it’s going to mean such a lot. We’re going to be at ease a bit. This is like a godsend.”

“We’d like to get the garden seen to, have it done nice so we can sit outside and enjoy it.”

People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Matt Johnson sent his well-wishes to the winners, he said: “It was my absolute pleasure to bring this amazing news to Chris, Luana, Jean and Ray today. I’m so happy for them all. It sounds like they have some lovely plans already and I hope they enjoy treating themselves and their families with their winnings.”

People’s Postcode Lottery costs £10 a month to play and there are guaranteed winners every day. People play with their chosen postcode and are automatically entered into all draws.

A minimum of 33 per cent of ticket sales goes directly to charities and players of People’s Postcode Lottery have helped raise over £700 million to date for thousands of good causes across Britain and internationally.

Luana was thrilled to hear about the amount raised for charity as she volunteers for Place2Be and Age UK herself. She added: “It’s part of the reason why we joined. Just being able to give back that little bit. People are struggling, especially this past year. It is quite hard work, so just to be able to give back a little bit is really nice.”