Pub syndicate toasts a EuroMillions win

The syndicate from The Jolly Boatman pub, who are each over £166,000 better off, includes the pub landlady, Charlotte Maynard, her mother, Mary Maynard, and pub regulars Michael Read, Michael Fowler, Michael Skinner and Maureen Daly.

It was Michael Read who had bought that week's ticket and decided to check the draw results before popping to the pub. As soon as he saw the winning numbers, though, he realised it was going to be a little more than a quick nightcap…

He immediately rang The Jolly Boatman to speak to Charlotte, telling her they had outdone the pub's other twenty-strong syndicate, who had recently celebrated a £2,500 win.

Charlotte, a single mum of one, couldn't stop screaming with joy, and immediately ran upstairs to the flat to share the good news with her parents.

Syndicate leader and pub matriarch Mary Maynard said, "I thought something awful had happened when Charlotte first appeared but when she shared the news, my panic quickly turned to joy. I turned to my husband of 37 years, Francis, and said, ‘come on, we'd better get glammed up, there's champagne to be drunk' and headed down to the bar."

With half the syndicate informed, Charlotte set to work ringing the other members to share the good news. She said, "I called Michael Fowler, but his wife said he was in bed with flu and couldn't come to the phone. I said 'I think he might want to get up for this news!'

"Amazing what a EuroMillions win can do; he made a rapid recovery and was celebrating in the pub half an hour later.

"The final Michael of the trio, Mike Skinner, was delighted with the news too and also headed over. However tracking down Maureen proved harder as she was on holiday in Mexico. We finally managed to get a message to her via Facebook and promised that her champagne was still on ice."

Mary, who has been in the pub trade for 40 years, is not surprised by the fabulous reaction they have all had from their regulars. With a beaming smile she said, "We've had The Jolly Boatman for more than 15 years and in that time met some genuinely lovely people. Our regulars really are the salt of the earth and their reaction to our good fortune shows what good people they are. Ultimately we will all be winners because some of the money will go towards sprucing the place up a bit to make it even nicer for our customers."

Freshly back from her holiday in Mexico, Maureen hailed her windfall as the perfect antidote to post-holiday blues, saying, "Knowing there was a lovely EuroMillions nest-egg, not to mention a knees-up with my fellow syndicate members, waiting for me back at home made leaving Mexico a little easier.

"We had an amazing holiday, made all the better knowing that I won't ever need to worry about money again. I can't believe I'm secure for the rest of my life and if I fancied it, I could hop straight back on the plane and head off somewhere else. It's an unbelievable feeling, I highly recommend it!"

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