A WOMAN who won a sizeable £200,000 on the People’s Postcode Lottery waited two days to claim her prize.
Hundreds of residents in Lancaster have been left celebrating after their area was selected in the People’s Postcode Lottery, sharing a huge £3.2million.
Sara McGonnell waited two days to claim her prize because she thought she was being scammed
Hundreds of people living on a Lancaster council estate won a total of £3.2m
Sara said: “I thought it was a scam and waited two days to get back in touch.”
The Postcode Lottery, which raises money for charities, didn’t tell her over the phone how much she and her husband Billy, who live on Sycamore Grove on The Marsh Estate in Lancaster, had won.
She said when she finally pulled the whopping £200k out of the golden envelope she was left feeling “emotional.”
She added: “I couldn’t believe it, I have never won anything before.
“I don’t know what I am going to do with it, it’s all up in the air still, but I am going to buy a new headstone for my mum’s grave and we will treat friends and family. I have been emotional.”
Gobsmacked locals knew they had won a minimum of £1k but had no idea how much they had scooped.
Just round the corner on the sprawling social housing estate, Amanda Drake, a single mum-of-five who lives at home with her son Adam, 22, celebrated a much smaller win but says it has still made a significant change.
Amanda was a domestic worker at Lancaster Infirmary for seven years until septicaemia caused her to have mobility issues and in 2021 she was no longer able to work.
She says money has been a struggle and she “just burst into tears” when she opened the golden envelope containing £1,965.
She says: “When I saw it was a gold envelope I knew it was a big win. I couldn’t believe it when I opened it and I just burst into tears.
“It’s not a lot of money, but it is to me and it has come at just the right time. It has been such a challenging couple of years.”
Meanwhile some people on the estate are kicking themselves.
One resident, a stone’s throw from Sara, said he had been in the Postcode Lottery for years but having moved on to The Marsh Estate 12 months ago didn’t transfer it over. “I’m absolutely gutted,” he laughed.
While other neighbours simply wish the winners well.
One woman says: “It’s crazy to think these are my neighbours. They have won so much money.”
But there is a hint of regret.
“I had been thinking about joining it but I hadn’t got round to it,” she said. “But I wish all the winners all the best.”
Neighbours Amie Walling, 37, and her husband James, 40, were also among the lucky few and plan to spend some of the windfall house-hunting but previously told HOAR they had promised their eight-year-old daughter Theia a big treat involving the viral energy drink Prime, backed by YouTubers KSI and Logan Paul.
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.
“We’re going to go on a Prime treasure hunt and see how many different kinds we can pick up.
“It is just pop at the end of the day so we won’t be forking out hundreds like some people do. But we will definitely be treating her.”
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.
Amie added: “We had a ten-year plan. Now we have a next-week plan.”
And she said that 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.”
