We won £1000 in the lottery after a scary sign – it was the strangest sensation
A RETIRED NHS worker has won a huge year-long jackpot in the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Meg Carr, 69, won the £12,000 a month for a year and said it ‘makes dreams’.
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Terrifyingly, the mother-of-five from North Yorkshire admitted she had ‘palpitations’ before discovering she had pocketed the staggering amount.
She said: “I had palpitations all morning and now they are gone. My heart came out of my chest.
“It’s just amazing and the weirdest sensation. I’m elated and feel like a kid in a candy store.
“This kind of money every month makes dreams come true.”
Meg received her prize after the LS25 6HW was the winner of the Postcode Lottery’s “An Unforgettable Year” this month.
Each ticket was worth £12,000 a month for a year.
Meg said they would celebrate their stroke of luck with a night out – and hinted at a big party for her 70th later this year.
She said, ‘Tonight we’re going for a steak and a bottle of champagne. I have a big birthday in August.
“We’re going to get a marquee and a band and have everyone here.”
An excited Meg, who now works as a dog courier, also revealed her incredible plans to spend the winning amount.
She said she wants to treat herself and hubby Andy, 53, to a ‘bucket list’ tour of Japan.
“We were already planning a trip to Japan this year,” she said.
“It’s been on the bucket list for a while. It’s a place we’ve both wanted to see.”
“We fly business class and go straight to Japan. We want to do the bullet train, see Mount Fuji, the monkeys and the cherry blossom trees.”
“That’s the first £12,000 gone!”
But Meg and a plus one can also choose from a range of unforgettable experiences – in Britain or abroad.
These include a seven-day safari to Kenya with Fauna & Flora International, a visit to the Brazilian rainforest with WWF and excursions to a national park in Mozambique or South Africa with Peace Parks Foundation.
Closer to home, she could opt for a five-star trip to Edinburgh with a VIP experience at the zoo, offered by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
Meg also said she will be donating money to some of her favorite charities, including Cherished Gowns UK, which makes funeral gowns for babies.
‘Some of this money goes to charities that I support. I used to knit clothes for African charities.
“Now I have found a charity that turns wedding dresses into funeral dresses for stillborn babies.”
Meg’s husband Andy, a truck driver, said he wants a new excavator to transform the land they have around their converted farm, including the bumpy path leading to their house.
He said, ‘I want an excavator to do some work here.
“The track is terrible at the moment. I would like to have a Volvo or a CAT with a loading shovel.
With this kind of money every month you make dreams
Meg
“When we bought this house, I had a 20-ton excavator.”
Meg added: “Tilling the land is very time consuming if you have to do it by hand.”
The lucky winner told how she retired as a radiographer in the NHS after 43 years – only to find a new career transporting dogs around the world.
She has now traveled the equivalent of five times around the world through the First Class Canine Travel company she started in 2018 – and is part of a network of French Bulldog breeders.
Her births have taken her all over Europe, 38 states in America, Trinidad, Vietnam, Korea and Puerto Rico.
The family had lived in the remote house until 1992, when they were forced to leave after British Coal successfully obtained a compulsory purchase order.
The property was bricked up and left abandoned for 22 years, until the couple finally managed to buy it back – and have since transformed it.
Meg, who will use some of her winnings towards a new shower, said: ‘It was heartbreaking to leave.
“We had a dream for this place, and they didn’t allow it.
“But we never stopped asking to buy it back. And when they said we could have it, it was great.
“The windows were all bricked up and some children had set part of them on fire. But other than that, it was exactly as we left.
“The wallpaper is still on the walls and the children’s stickers are still on the bedroom doors.
“It was very strange.”
How does the People’s Postcode Lottery work?
ACCORDING to the official website, players sign up with their postcode and pay £12 per month.
They are automatically entered into every draw and the prizes are announced every day of the month.
Tickets play for prizes every day of the week. From Monday to Sunday, a ticket can win £1,000 in the daily prize every day.
Tickets can also be used to win a £30,000 jackpot in Saturday and Sunday’s street prize draws.
The People’s Postcode Lottery also offers a £3 million Postcode Millions draw every month – and your ticket plays for a share of a £3 million cash prize fund.
Winners will be notified by email, text message, post or phone call depending on the prize they win.
Jackpot winners are personally visited by the lottery team.
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