Wolves fans scoop £1.7m Lotto jackpot

SIX life-long Warrington Wolves supporters are celebrating after scooping a Lotto jackpot of £1,758,997.
The friends, all former work colleagues, revealed they only checked their winning ticket by chance six weeks after the draw took place.
The syndicate, who will each bank £293,166, have been playing Lotto every week with the same numbers since it launched. The group of friends say the news is still sinking in and they are going through a whole range of emotions from bursting into tears to screaming in delight.
Syndicate leader Julie Phillips said: “I always buy one month of tickets in advance and check the numbers from the previous month when I buy the new ticket.
“I never check the numbers from week to week. With Christmas being so busy I had just not checked the last ticket we bought. It was just sitting on top of the fridge in our kitchen. It was only because I was in Warrington shopping and I walked past the kiosk where I normally buy our tickets that I decided to check. I had put the ticket in my bag before I went out incase I passed anywhere to check the numbers.
“But just as I got to the front of the queue, the machine stopped working. I was about to walk away when the assistant managed to get it working again. The machine made a strange ringing sound and the assistant said I would have to call Camelot. Everyone in the queue starting to cheer and I just walked away calmly joking: “you may see me in the papers next week as a lottery winner.”
It’s the second big lottery win in Warrington in recent weeks, following Michael and Margaret Sampson’s half a million pound win earlier this month.
In fact, according to research released last year, Warrington is one of the country’s luckiest places to live when it comes to winning a major Lottery prize of at least £50,000, ranking sixth since the National Lottery began in 1994.
Julie added that she went home but completely forgot about her ticket as she started to do household chores and it was around one hour later when she remembered she needed to call Camelot.
She explained: “When the lady on the end of the phone confirmed I really had won I just could not believe it. I just went silent. I thought initially it was £17k and she had to tell me about three times it was the jackpot and £1.7m. I just didn’t believe it was true!
“I immediately got my son to call one of the other syndicate members on my mobile to ask her to come round straight away. As soon as I came off the phone I called the other girls and everyone came to my house. There was a mixture of emotions and lots of tears but we soon opened a bottle of champagne – and then celebrated with an Indian takeaway.”
The syndicate, three of whom are Wolves’ season ticket holders, also includes: Joan Holliday, 67; Anne Jones, 63; Sharon Heaton, 44 and Christine Cooper, 66, all from Warrington. They are now deciding how they will spend their new found fortune.
Julie is planning on paying for her son, Jack, 20, to study for his Masters in Sport Performance Analysis; Joan had been planning to have her carpets cleaned but says the win means she will be able to invest in new carpets; Anne says she will now be able to visit her son in Australia and take her daughter along too who has never been able to afford to go. Meanwhile, Sharon and Christine are planning on looking after their families.
The friends, who met while working at Salstream, now Norbert Dentressangle, have all since retired, with the exception of Sharon but they have stayed in touch and continued to play Lotto every week.
They always play six lines and keep the same numbers – birthdays and lucky numbers – and say they have had several small wins previously. Julie always buys the tickets from NL Kiosk in Golden Square, Warrington.
On the same day, December 7, the syndicate also won a further £25 with one of their other lines.
The winning line, numbers chosen by Julie, was: 10, 12, 17, 30, 42, 28.
The Part-Timers Syndicate has a sixth member who has opted to remain anonymous.

The lottery part-timers are pictured celebrating with Warrington legends Mike Nicholas and Lee Briers.