Northamptonshire neighbours win 'life-changing' £77k each as Postcode Lottery team knock on their doors

A pregnant NHS worker is one of a dozen of Northamptonshire neighbours celebrating winning nearly £77,000 each on the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Heather McIlhiney-Grant, who is expecting her second child in September, scooped £76,923 when her street in Brixworth won the lottery’s Millionaire Street prize.

Now the mum says her "life-changing” win will help her to spend more time with her husband Will, 31, and their daughter Theia, 4.

Heather said: “This [money] honestly couldn’t have come at a better time. The baby is due in early September on the same week Theia starts school. It’s all going on.”

Healthcare worker Heather married NHS nurse Will two years ago and the caring couple plan to give a helping hand to their young family.

Heather added: “Kids are so expensive. They grow out of their clothes so quickly and you just want to give them everything.”

“We can buy a bigger car and it’ll mean I can enjoy a year’s maternity leave.”

The whopping win might also help Heather settle the argument about their future daughter’s name.

She said: “Me and my husband have different ideas about names, which wasn’t the case with Theia, after winning this I think I’ll be able to veto some names.”

The 29-year-old was contacted by the lottery six days before she found out how much they’d won. The People’s Postcode Lottery caller told her they would be visiting her street, and all would be revealed.

Heather said: “Our street has a WhatsApp group chat and we’d all been chatting, wondering if it was real and how much we might have won.

“I seen a flood of red jackets and cameras going past my window and everyone was texting me asking if they’d knocked on my door yet.

“It was making me all hot and sweaty and I was already feeling like an oven.”

Heather says she will not splash the cash but will treat herself to a pair of new shoes.

She said: “I’ll buy a new pair of Crocs! I got a pair for when I’m out in the garden but now I wear them everywhere.

“I can wear them on a sunny holiday for my 30th birthday next year.”

Heather and eleven neighbours won a share of the £1,000,000 prize after their postcode was announced as a winner on Saturday (July 15).

Another lucky neighbour was Jon Byrne, 40. The delighted dad is now hearing wedding bells, with Jon and fiancée Prue Dillon, 40, planning to tie the knot sooner than expected thanks to his massive windfall.

Data analyst Jon said: “We’ve been engaged for five years, and we can accelerate plans for a wedding now.

“We’ve looked at venues and things but we’ve never really tied anything down because of money really but this changes things.”

Prue, who works as an underwriter, said: “We’ve been engaged for a long time, but to be fair we had our little boy, and all our money went to him. Now we can do something for us.”

The stunned parents are also planning to redecorate their three-year-old son Noah’s bedroom and throw a birthday party to remember.

Prue said: “Noah turns four this month and we were already planning a party, but we can go a bit out there now and spend a bit more.”

Across the road, Emma Brennan, 41, also scored more than £76,000 after only recently signing up to the lottery.

The stunned mum-of-two said: “Oh my God it’s a phenomenal amount of money! I’m so glad we signed up in time.”

Adventurous Emma says her bumper win will go towards travelling across the world with her husband Matt, 43 and their two sons - George, 13, and Max, 12.

“We can start having adventures with the kids while they’re still young. We’ve always wanted to go to New York, and we’ve got family in Australia so that’s another option.

“Our future starts now.”

Emma, who works as practice nurse in the local surgery, is also arranging a trip without the kids to Boston and Niagara Falls to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

When rugby fan Phillip Burton, 75, found out he had won he said: “That’s better than a kick in the teeth, isn’t it?”

Phillip says the cash will help secure his plans for retirement alongside his wife of 53 years, Carol, 74.

Retired quantity surveyor Phillip said: “The pension is adequate but anything out of the ordinary has to come out of savings. This just reinforces our future; it makes everything that bit easier.”

The pair have lived at the winning postcode for 40 years.

Northampton Saints supporter Phillip said the trip of a lifetime could now be on the cards now their luck’s come in: “We might go to the Rocky Mountains in Canada, it looks lovely on the television.”

Gillian Raygada, 69, was delighted to win alongside so many of her neighbours.

The retired maths teacher said: “We’re going to start celebrating tonight with the neighbours. We’re very close in this street so I think we could have a street party!”

Jet setter Gillian said the win has come at a great time for her and her husband of 49 years, Geoff.

She said: “It’s our 70th birthdays this year so we can really celebrate. I think we’ll go a nice holiday. We’ve been to New Zealand, the Caribbean, Maldives, Canada, St. Lucia… we’ll have to look at a map and see where we haven’t been!”

Also celebrating more than £76,000 was dad-of-two Jim Johnson, 53 and Kim Pestell, 60.

Another neighbour on the street bagged the biggest sum of £153,846 thanks to playing with two tickets but chose to remain anonymous.