Rushden neighbours shell-shocked after life-changing postcode lottery win

A group of Rushden neighbours who each won more than £250,000 in the postcode lottery say they’re shell-shocked by the life-changing prize.

Six residents in the Glenfield Close area have claimed £266,666 after NN10 9XY was announced as the winner in the £3.2m People’s Postcode Lottery jackpot on Saturday (November 19).

And a further 981 people from across the NN10 9 postcode sector received cheques for between £1,433 and £7,165, depending on how many tickets they play with.

Those to win £266,666 include John Tilley, a 77-year-old retired gas engineer and grandfather-of-two who has Parkinson’s disease.

He 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 came after a challenging few years for the couple. She said: “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!

Another jackpot winner was retired shop worker Catherine Swingler, who found out she’d won on her 72nd birthday.

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

Retired college lecturer Bridget Mitchell, 77, was joined by husband Tony when she found out they had won the six-figure sum.

The grandmother-of-two said: “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.”

Three other jackpot winners chose to remain anonymous.

People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Jeff Brazier said: “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!”