A Rushden postcode has won residents a multi-million-pound-lottery prize.

The NN10 9 postcode area was announced as the winner of a £3.2 million People’s Postcode Lottery prize on Saturday 19 November, with 987 people in the community picking up a cheque.

Six neighbours in the full winning postcode – NN10 9XY – won an incredible £266,666 each.

The £266,666 winners include:

• John Tilley, a 77-year-old retired gas engineer and grandad of two who has Parkinson’s disease

• Catherine Swingler, a retired shop worker, who found out she’d won on her 72nd birthday

• Bridget Mitchell, a 77-year-old retired college lecturer and grandmother of two

John Tilley was joined by Shirley, his wife of 55 years, when he found out he’d won.

John said: “Bloody hell, I never thought it would be that much. I can’t believe it.

Shirley, a retired NHS worker, said the news has come after a challenging few years for the couple: “John had a heart attack and recovered from that but then in 2014 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

“He has worked all his life and to get to retirement age and not be able to do what you’d like to do is hard. It’s difficult to describe what this means to us. It’s life changing.”

John added: “You just plod on and you get by.”

The pair plan to treat their two children and two grandchildren with the prize.

Shirley said: “The family will be over the moon for us. I think we’ll treat them and we’ll all go away, maybe for a Mediterranean cruise! But we might have one just us two. We need a new settee too!

“We shall be getting a bottle of something out later to celebrate first. We’ve got such good neighbours and everyone is so friendly so it’s good we can celebrate together.”

Catherine Swingler was alongside her husband Mick when she got the knock on her door.

Catherine said: “We’ve never won anything like this in our lives before, I’m completely shell-shocked.

“It’s my birthday today and my husband Mick and I didn’t really have much planned, but this is amazing. I can’t believe I’ve won £266,666 on my birthday!

“It’s so nice to be winning with other people, it’s great to see my neighbours getting their cheques too.

“We had a cruise in the Caribbean in July 2019 and have another booked for 2023 but since the pandemic we’ve not been able to do too much so this money will make a huge difference and allow us go on even more adventures.

“We’ve two sons, Tim and Simon, and four grandchildren who we’ll be phoning straight away. They live really close so I’m sure we’ll have the whole family around tonight to celebrate my birthday and my prize.

“I’m definitely going to keep playing People’s Postcode Lottery, even if you’re not winning you’re helping loads of amazing charities and that’s so important to us.”

Bridget Mitchell was joined by husband Tony when she got the news. She said: “Oh my goodness, is this real? This is amazing, wow!

“This means an awful lot to us; we’ll be able to help our family and we’ve two granddaughters who are studying at Cambridge University, so we’ll definitely help them as well.

“I’d also like to do some work to our house, new flooring for the lounge is the top of my list. I like to keep the house nice so there'll be some money spent on that.

“Tony and I have been married for 57 years and have lived in this house for more than 40 years, it’s been a very lucky postcode for us today.

“I've just had the surprise of my life. I can't wait to get on the phone to tell my family.

“I’m the eldest of seven so I’ll make sure I give my brothers and sisters a nice Christmas present, and I definitely think we’ll be booking a luxury cruise in the New Year, that would be really nice for us.

“I’m just so excited, I feel like a kid at Christmas and don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight!”

The three other people who also won £266,666 chose to remain anonymous.

Prize amounts for players across the winning sector ranged from £1,433 to £7,165 depending on the number of tickets played with.

People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Jeff Brazier said: “Neighbours winning together is what People’s Postcode Lottery is all about and it was an absolute pleasure to deliver some good news to John, Catherine and Bridget today.

“With so many people getting cheques in the NN10 9 postcode area I’m sure there will be plenty of celebrations going on across Rushden!”

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

Northamptonshire Search and Rescue is one charity close to the winners that’s benefitted from money raised by players. Last year it received £20,000 to help purchase a new team ambulance to make sure vulnerable missing people can get safely back to their homes and loved ones.

-ENDS-

For more information contact Izzi McLaren at elizabeth.mclaren@postcodelottery.co.uk or call 07766 441803.

More images and footage available here: https://omnibus.postcodelottery.co.uk/customshare/index/vRLjE

Winner image descriptions

John Tilley – Black fleece jacket, blue jumper

Shirley Tilley – Blonde bobbed hair, black puffer jacket

Catherine Swingler – Red jacket, blue jumper

Bridget Mitchell – Yellow jacket, grey bobbed hair

Tony Mitchell – Blue quarter zip jumper, bald and glasses

Number of winners and prize amounts:

6 x £266,666 (Full winning postcode NN10 9XY)

2 x £7,165 (5 tickets)

5 x £5,732 (4 tickets)

14 x £4,299(3 tickets)

84 x £2,866 (2 tickets)

876 x £1,433 (1 ticket)

This Postcode Millions draw was promoted on behalf of Postcode Earth Trust which supports organisations including Keep Britain Tidy and Canal and River Trust.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About People’s Postcode Lottery People’s Postcode Lottery is an external lottery manager which operates lotteries on behalf of 20 independent charitable 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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