Life changing

Blooming marvellous win for Kent florist

A grandad from Kent believes that a series of fortunate coincidences led to his life changing EuroMillions win. A win that will finally bring some relief and happiness to the family after many years of heartache.

Con Smith, 58, who runs a local floristry business with his wife said, “We’ve had so much sadness in the last 10 years, losing many people very close to us. Now we can look to a brighter future for the whole family – I guess you could say things really are coming up roses now!"

Lucky fish

Con won £247,463 after his Lucky Dip ticket matched five main numbers and one Lucky Star in the EuroMillions draw on Tuesday 21 February. This upturn was all thanks to a random set of coincidences.

“Our change in luck started when I brought my dad home from hospital. The previous week he was lying in a hospital bed and we had been told he had just 24 hours to live. Seven days later he’d made a miraculous recovery and I was able to take him home.”

Deciding his dad needed something to eat, Con went to the local chippy and while they were cooking his piece of fish, and knowing he wouldn’t be back in Snodland in time to buy his EuroMillions ticket, Con popped into the next door newsagents to pick one up.

“It’s a good job dad’s fish was cooked from fresh as it meant I went into the shop, somewhere I’d never been before, and bought that winning ticket. It’s as if it was meant to be – dad coming out of hospital, my buying the ticket in a completely new shop and the fish needing to be cooked, it’s as if fate decreed the win!”

App check

It wasn’t until the following morning that the dad of two, and grandad to three, realised he was a winner. His partner of 38 years, Lorna, was already at the florists, and Con was finishing his breakfast before heading to work when he decided to check his ticket. Using the ticket scanning function on the National Lottery app on his phone, Con could instantly see exactly how much he had won.

“When the app let out a little beep to alert me to a win I was certainly not expecting to see a big congratulations message and confirmation of a £247,463 win. I had to scan the ticket about seven more times before also logging onto the National Lottery website to cross reference the numbers, and each time it confirmed I’d won – it was utterly surreal.”

Dashing down the road to the florist, he showed Lorna the ticket and said ‘take a look at this’ before scanning it and showing her the winning amount. Over the moon but utterly speechless Lorna told him to ring Camelot to make the claim, but not until he’d made an urgent flower delivery for one of their customers.

A nice boost

Con completed his delivery and then made his call to Camelot who confirmed the win. Still floating on cloud nine, he is starting to make a few plans for the future.

“First and foremost I will help out our children, put some away for pension and pay off a few debts. We’ll probably also look at buying a new car, make a few renovations at home and maybe some new furniture. Then it’s a bit of investment into the florists. It’s no secret that running a small high street business isn’t easy these days and this win will give the business, and us, a nice boost.”

The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK since 1994. In that time, there have been more than 7,000 new millionaires created and by playing The National Lottery you raise over £4 million for Good Causes every dayΔ.

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