Shopping list of house, car and holidays for Essex family

Kitchen fitter Paul Bond had just finished working his fourth Sunday in a row when he grabbed a scratchcard while out shopping for essentials. Gemma was out with their 3 young children at a kid’s party when she received a picture message from Paul that would change their lives.

Paul had just played the first game on his Monopoly Millionaire 2016 Scratchcard from The National Lottery's GameStore and revealed a £1MMillion win.

“Although I’ve always said I will one day have a big win, nothing had prepared me for the shock of seeing that £1 million symbol on my scratchcard,” said Paul. “I just sat in the van on my own shaking for about ten minutes before I pulled myself together, sent a picture of it to Gemma and rang her to say please look at that picture and tell me what you see.”

Not a wind up

Gemma, called back in tears saying ‘please tell me that’s not a wind up’ and Paul, not able to believe it himself decided he needed another opinion. Still sitting in his van, he sent a picture to his brother saying he thought he’d won £1 million. With his brother now saying it looked real Paul realised he’d better ring The National Lottery.

“By the time I’d been through the checking and double–checking with Gemma and my brother, I’d been sitting in the van for more than 45 minutes and the Lottery Line had closed. I’m notorious for losing things so I rushed home and spent the rest of the evening nervously sitting on the sofa in a daze just holding the scratchcard in my hands. Meanwhile, Gemma was happily surfing Rightmove looking for our dream home!”

After confirming the win the next morning the happy couple wasted no time in popping out to Lakeside to enjoy their new found wealth.

Paul said, “With three young children things have always been a little bit tight so we are making no apologies for now being able to enjoy some time off from the grind of daily life and managing the pennies. Being able to pop to the shops and buy a couple of expensive handbags and a designer watch without thinking was just an awesome experience.”

Transformation

The win will transform the young family’s life. “We're looking forward to fun times ahead as a family now we can enjoy life a bit more without worrying about money. We know exactly what we want to do with the win – buy a house, cars, have some great holidays and then put the rest into investments for the kids before cracking on with life and back to kitchen-fitting. We’ve already started hunting for our dream four-bed house and bought two Mercedes, it’s just the holidays that need booking.”

EuroDisney at half-term is looking very likely while the family of five will be jetting off to the States for a month over the summer holidays for a RV road-trip. Paul said, “Gemma and I have always dreamt of a US road-trip but each time we started to make plans something else would come up to scupper those plans. Now £1 million has come up, we can make that dream a reality. In fact, we can make all our dreams a reality – flipping magic!”

Paul has no intention to stop working but has agreed with his business partners, his dad and brother, that he can take a month off to really enjoy this life changing experience. After his month off Paul will be opening a kitchen show room for the family business, Bond Kitchens Limited, to ensure that everyone gets a piece of the win.

"I can’t change everyone’s life and bank balance with this money but by investing in the family business I can hopefully help to make our business thrive and thereby make life better for all my family."