Life changing

Special delivery of £1Million for Kent distribution centre workers

A group, who jokingly refer to themselves as ‘The Misfits Syndicate’, who work at a distribution centre in Maidstone are celebrating winning Lotto. The 13 are celebrating winning £76,923.07 each after banking £1Million in the Lotto Millionaire Raffle.

Syndicate leader, Mandy Richards, who took over management of the Misfits almost six years ago, plays the group's 13 Lotto lines every Saturday. While they have had a few little wins along the way, they had never won anything like £1Million.

Mandy said, “I collect the money on payday and buy the syndicate tickets every month, and then store them away safely in a tin at home. I always check our numbers after the draw but I’ll be honest, don’t always look at the Millionaire Raffle code, I usually leave this to be checked on the machine when I go in to buy the next month’s tickets. And that’s what happened with this win, it’s just amazing to think that little slip of paper, worth one million, was just sitting in my tin at home!”

How much?

On payday, with Mandy feeling unwell, her eldest daughter said she’d pop to the local store to buy the syndicate’s Lotto tickets for the month ahead, and check those in the tin. Less than 10 minutes later, Mandy’s daughter was back looking very shocked.

“My daughter, Louise, came in waving a slip of paper saying we’d had a win, it was more than £500 and I needed to ring Camelot immediately. Before I rang I checked all the numbers online but couldn’t see any matches, then I realised maybe it was the Millionaire Raffle. When one of the codes matched I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“Even though it’s called the Millionaire Raffle, I got my zeros muddled-up and was convinced it was a £100,000 win, so when the lady at Camelot confirmed it was a £1million win I was utterly gobsmacked!”

With the win confirmed, Mandy had no time to share the news with her fellow syndicate members as she was hurried out of the door to attend a local fireworks display with her family.

“I didn’t have the contact details for most of the syndicate but on the way to the fireworks I managed to get in touch with one of the other ladies to share the news, she was just as shocked as me and we started planning how to tell the others on Monday at work. Then I just enjoyed the fireworks safe in the knowledge that some of my dreams could now become a reality. Honestly, I felt like the fireworks display had been laid on for us, it was the perfect celebration.”

Surprise

On Monday, Mandy went to work to tell her fellow syndicate members the wonderful news. Putting a copy of the ticket and a screen grab of the winning amount into 12 cards, the warehouse operative called everyone to a meeting.

Sue Ivell who is an operations manager was one of the lucky winners called into the meeting, she said, “Some people were finishing their shift or really busy so in general we weren’t that keen to go when Mandy said we needed to have a meeting. Then she started handing out envelopes with our names written on the front, we were bantering that we must have won a few hundred.

“Once those cards were opened the banter soon stopped as there were whoops of joy, screaming, a few tears and utter amazement at our £1million win. I just couldn’t believe it, in fact, I still can’t!”

For Mandy, a mum of four and nanny to 12, her £76,923.07 win means that a long held dream for a conservatory at the back of the home she shares with her husband of 33 years, Dwayne, can finally happen. Her fellow syndicate members, who range in age from 31 to 70, have their own plans with new cars, cleared debts and a house to call home also on the cards.

Still smiling at the sudden change in fortunes for the Misfits Syndicate, Mandy said, “While we always dreamt of a win I guess we never thought it could be this big. Sharing this money with the Misfits, and so close to Christmas, is a wonderful experience. To know that all the syndicate members can now make plans for a brighter future, whether it’s a deposit on a house or clearing some debts, the win will make all the difference to all of us.”

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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