Christmas has come early for hundreds of Beccles neighbours after winning a multi-million-pound lottery prize.

The NR34 9 postcode area was announced as the winner of a £3.2 million People’s Postcode Lottery prize on Saturday 3 December, with 655 people in the community picking up a cheque.

Ten neighbours in the full winning postcode – NR34 9RS – won the lion’s share of the prize pot. Eight people winning on the street bagged £133,333 each and another two neighbours won £266,666, thanks to playing with two tickets.

The winners include:

• Zoe Mowday, 35, a mum-of-four and newlywed.

• Glyn Savage, 70, and Linda Savage, 66, a retired married couple who between them won £399,999

• Alice Stanley, 87, a retired secretary and grandmother.

• Mandy Stanley, 63, a children’s book author and illustrator.

• Cheryl Lewis, a 40-year-old dinner lady and mum-of-three.

Zoe Mowday (35) and her husband Dan are now planning their dream honeymoon and a jolly Christmas after winning £133,333.

The mum-of-four said: “I feel like I’m going to wake up tomorrow and think ‘did I dream that? That was a dream’ - this amount means so much to our family.

Dan said: “We got married in June and we never had a honeymoon after a budget wedding in our local pub.”

Zoe said she has a dream honeymoon destination in mind: “I’ve always wanted to go to Italy, but we knew we’d never be able to afford to go anywhere other than twenty minutes down the road. Italy was always just a dream.”

The couple the win will make an ‘almighty’ difference to their festive season.

Zoe said: “This money will make life so much easier! Recently it’s been a struggle, as I’m not working at the moment, because I’m looking after the babies, and we’ve only got one wage coming in.

“That’s what has been really sad because the kids had done their list for Santa and our teenager wanted a new phone and our son wanted a Fitbit, and we were trying to look for second-hand and didn’t think we’d be able to do it.

“Now, we can treat to them what they want.”

Married couple, Glyn Savage (70) and Linda Savage (66) said ‘Christmas had come early’ after they won £399,999 between them.

Glyn said: “It’s Christmas all in one. It feels as if the whole world has opened up to us. It’s a wonderful surprise.”

Linda added: “It’s maybe not going to change our lives because we are retired, but it certainly is going to change our children’s lives, and that’s all you want as parents at the end of the day.”

Along with helping out their son and daughter, the couple said that they can now go on a ‘bucket list of holidays’. The list includes watching the Northern Lights while taking a cruise around the Norwegian Fjords and travelling as far as Mexico and Australia.

Linda joked: “We won’t need to travel in economy class. It’s unthinkable.”

Alice Stanley (87) won £266,666, and her daughter-in-law Mandy (63) won £133,333.

Alice said: “What a lovely Christmas present and it’s great we won together.

“Now my children don’t need to worry about taking care of me, I think someone up there is looking after me.”

Mandy added: “We’ve had a rough year, but things have definitely just got better. Our luck has turned, I keep getting the giggles.

“My mother-in-law was kind enough to let us stay with her during a house move, hence why I started playing with her postcode. It’s fate, you never know what lies around the corner.”

Mandy, who authored a children’s book, also said: “This is like my perfect Christmas present, I’ve always wanted to publish my second book independently and print it locally, I think it’s important to keep the local printers running and this will help me to do that.”

Another winner, Cheryl Lewis (40), described the win as ‘life-changing’. She said that along with getting a house extension, the £133,333 means she can now take her family on a dream holiday: “We can do-up the loft and add two extra bedrooms for the kids. We’d love to take them to Disney World, Florida, where we got married 17 years ago!”

Cheryl’s son celebrated his 2nd birthday at the weekend and had asked his mum and dad for a trip to the aquarium.

Cheryl’s husband Stuart said: “We were talking about taking him to the aquarium because he loves the fish, but the option was to take him to Pets at Home because it was cheaper. So, now we can take him to the proper one.

The four other people who also won £133,333 chose to remain anonymous.

Prize amounts for players across the winning sector ranged from £2,139 to £12,834 depending on the number of tickets played with.

People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Danyl Johnson said: “It was absolutely amazing to visit and surprise some of our winners on their doorstep just weeks before Christmas. There was such a lovely atmosphere on the street with plenty of cheques, hugs and Christmas cheer.

“With so many people getting cheques in the NR34 9 postcode area I’m sure there will be plenty of celebrations going on across Beccles!”

How it works

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% from each ticket goes to charity. Players of People’s Postcode Lottery have raised more than a billion pounds for thousands of charities and local good causes.

Local charities win too

The Suffolk Befriending Scheme is one charity close to the winners that’s benefitted from money raised by players. Last year, it received £19,786 to help fund training for its befriending services for vulnerable and isolated people in Suffolk especially those with learning disabilities, ill mental health and older people.

-ENDS-

For more information contact Craig Stewart at craig.stewart@postcodelottery.co.uk or call 07423 688896.

More images and footage available here:

https://omnibus.postcodelottery.co.uk/customshare/index/JOKG7

Winner image descriptions

Zoe Mowday (35) – Wearing a mustard-coloured jacket with navy blue jeans, with husband Dan Mowday who wears a navy jacket and has a ginger beard

Alice Stanley (87) - Wearing glasses with short white hair

Mandy Stanley (63) - Wearing a long blue padded jacket, with a beige and red scarf and brown boots and grey bobbed hair

Cheryl Lewis (40) - Auburn hair and jumper with a sequin fox print and black leggings, with husband Stuart Lewis who wears a checked shirt and brown waxed jacket with brown hair

Glyn Savage (70) - Wears a black padded jacket with white hair, a beard and dark glasses

Linda Savage (66) - Wearing a blue padded jacket with short grey hair and glasses

Number of winners and prize amounts:

2 x £266,666 (Full winning postcode NR34 9RS – 2 tickets)

8 x £133,333 (Full winning postcode NR34 9RS – 1 ticket)

1 x £12,834 (6 tickets)

16 x £6,417 (3 tickets)

66 x £4,278 (2 tickets)

562 x £2,139 (1 tickets)

This Postcode Millions draw was promoted on behalf of Postcode Children Trust which supports organisations including Barnardos, Children’s 1st and Young Lives vs Cancer.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About People’s Postcode Lottery People’s Postcode Lottery is an external lottery manager which operates charity lotteries on behalf of 20 independent Postcode Trusts. It is licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission. Players of People’s Postcode Lottery have raised more than a billion pounds for thousands of charities and local good causes.

Further information: www.postcodelottery.info

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