KIND-hearted chef persuaded his wife to play People’s Postcode Lottery– and doubled their winnings.
Jeff Lilley, 65, signed up to help charities then talked missus Marion, 63, into joining after he had been playing for more than three years. Now the pair are celebrating after they each picked up a cheque for £90,909.
Jeff, of Harlow, Essex, said: “I signed up a while ago and said to Marion that she had to do it, too. We’re helping other people, it’s not just for us. I’m a man of little words, but this is just brilliant.”
The Lilleys shared the £1 million jackpot with nine neighbours after CM18 6QT landed Postcode Lottery’s weekly Millionaire Street prize on Saturday, December 16.
Each ticket was worth £90,909. When their cheques were revealed, Marion screamed “Oh my God!” She added: “This is a dream. It is going to change everything.” Now the Christmas-crazy couple are planning to travel – as well as helping their three kids and eight grandchildren. Marion, an operating department practitioner in the town’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, said: “We love travelling. We’d like to go to the Maldives and Australia and maybe look to take a bit longer with our holidays.
“I feel sick, excited and overwhelmed.”
Marion revealed she’s working on Christmas morning but will get the party started when she returns home.
She said: “We go to town on Christmas. We’re close as a family and this is a family thing.
“I’ll be working on Christmas morning, but when I get home it will be busy all the way.”
Jeff, who is thinking of retiring next year as a chef in the clinical trials unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, said: “I always said I would win the lottery. Now I’m just speechless.
“This is going to go a long way to looking after us. We’ll have a cracking Christmas.”
Next door neighbour Mandy Mulvey knew she was a winner when she heard the Lilley’s singing the Postcode Lottery theme tune through the wall.
Mandy, 37, also banked £90,909 then revealed she hadn’t even told hubby Luke she played.
Mandy, a special needs teaching assistant in a primary school, said: “Luke’s mum played the lottery and someone from her street won it. I just thought to myself ‘I might start doing that’.
“I signed up a couple of years ago, but Luke didn’t even know I played. The first he knew was when I told him last Friday when I found out I’d won.”
Luke, 37, a contract manager with an asbestos removal firm, said: “We could hear the neighbours singing through the walls.”
The couple are planning to finish landscaping the garden – and take their three kids to visit Mandy’s sister in Adelaide, Australia.
Mandy said: “I’m literally shaking. I don’t know what to say. This is amazing…days before Christmas. It’s incredible.
“I honestly thought it would be £2,000 or £3,000 maybe. This makes such a huge difference. We’ll finish doing up the garden and visit my sister in Australia.”
Luke added: “We’ll take the three kids. We’ve never been as a family.”
Further along the street, winning next door neighbours Jennifer Tyrrell and Debbie Stansfield know what they’ll buy – a garden fence!
Stansted Airport welcome host Debbie, 55, said: “We’re going to go halves on the fence – finally!”
She has her heart set on a campervan to travel round Britain with technical design engineer hubby Richard, 57 – and treat their family.
She said: “We’ve been wanting one for ages. Either a VW or a Tolbot.”
The mum-of-two added: “I got another four grandkids this year. We went from four to eight.”
Jennifer, 44, was getting her hair cut in her best friend’s kitchen when she got a call to say she’d won.
And the first thing she’ll splash her £90,909 windfall on? A Ninja air fryer – to cook chicken and chips.
The mum-of-three said: “There’s two drawers, we can do both.”
Now ambulance emergency care assistant Jennifer can’t wait to celebrate Christmas with her family.
Wearing an advent calendar jumper, she said: “I’m such a Mrs Christmas. My sister just flew home from Dubai yesterday. She lives out there, so we’ll get to see her and the kiddies.”
Jennifer is currently awaiting an operation after breaking her ankle in February – but her win has put a smile on her face again as she plans her spending with water softener engineer hubby Michael, 56.
She said: “I kept saying to my husband, ‘let’s just sit at the thousand and anything better than that is going to be amazing.’ I’ve got to phone him and he’s going to be like, ‘what?!’”
Retired Tony Darby, 85, planned to break out the whisky with wife Pat, 80, to celebrate their win. Now they plan to splash out on a new porch, windows – and a holiday.
Gran-of-four Pat said: “We’re going to Jersey hopefully in April.”
Shocked David Chihota is planning to take wife Amina, 51, on holiday to Zanzibar, off the east coast of Africa, with his new fortune – and buy a new motor.
Stansted Airport security officer David, 56, revealed his family went to work not believing he’d won.
The Zimbabwe-born dad-of-three said: “They will believe me now.” He added: “My son is going to choose a car for me. He loves cars.”
Gran-of-eight Gillian Llewellyn, 62, plans to take newly retired boxmaker hubby David, 66, on a coach trip to Santa Susanna in Spain – because he won’t fly.
The Primark worker said: “I’ll give a little bit to my four kids and have a nice holiday.
“We went to Santa Susanna before and loved it there. My husband doesn’t like flying so we can get the coach – perfect.”
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
