The top-prize winning postcode from the Essex Postcode Lottery has been revealed and some lucky winners walked away with more than £800,000.
It can now be revealed that the full winning postcode for the Postcode Lottery was SS8 7EE, May Avenue, in Canvey, with there being 11 big winners, each winning a ticket worth £404,510, with two winners receiving a colossal £809,020 on account of buying two tickets.
Postcode Lottery teams visited the winning street while hundreds of other lucky winners went to Castle View School, in Foksville Road, to collect cheques containing a minimum of £13,504, despite winners expectations that the golden envelopes would contain £3,000.
Sheila Ely, 69, one of the big winners who scooped more than £800,000, said: “It’s always been a dream of mine to go to see Formula One and what better one to go than Abu Dhabi.
“I’ve been a fan of racing since I was a kid, and my late husband was also a big fan."
Sheila added: “I’m sure he’s looking out for me, I never played the lottery when he was alive, and I did it on a whim.”
Sheila suffers with multiple sclerosis and plans to buy a bigger bungalow to live more comfortably in but said: "There’s no way I’m moving from Canvey, all my friends are here and it’s just a beautiful community.
“I have five or six friends who have also won, so we’re all going to meet up and see how we’ve all done.”
Son, Matthew, 32, said: “It’s fantastic, feel like I don’t need to worry about her, and she can just enjoy herself now.”
“I’ve always wanted to go to Spa, the Grand Prix in Belgium, if mum treats me, we’ll go together.”
Sheila added that grandchildren Sydney, ten, and Leo, eight, are "over the moon, and they are compiling another Christmas list.”
Doors down from Sheila, Lisa Hayter, 49, won £404,510, signing up to play on November 26. If she signed up one day later she wouldn't have won a penny.
Lisa said: “I had thought about joining then I saw a Postcode Lottery advert and it said ‘you’ve got to enter by midnight to be in this draw’ so I did it.
"I’m glad I did. It’s amazing.”
Lisa got the call from Postcode Lottery to arrange a visit while she was on holiday in Iceland with partner Rodney, she almost missed the knock on her door to get her cheque after her flight home was cancelled.
Lisa said: “I literally just got back from Iceland yesterday, I got the phone call on Wednesday, sitting there in Iceland, and we were meant to come back on Thursday, but our flight got cancelled and we couldn’t get back until Friday.
"There was all this chatter about it and people ringing each other when we were on holiday.
“I didn’t see the northern lights in Iceland, but I can chase them now, maybe in Alaska.”
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