Lottery winners reveal their surprisingly modest dreams

They are rich beyond their wildest dreams. But as the nine winners of Britain's largest lottery prize spoke of their good fortune, their dreams turned out to be surprisingly modest.

Les Scadding and his wife Samantha Peachey-Scadding from Caerleon, south Wales 

Luxury sportscars, superyachts and exotic holidays? Not quite. A Vauxhall Corsa and a trip to Menorca were the biggest extravagances that the newly minted millionaires could countenance as the scale of their windfall sunk in.

The ticket-holders for Friday's £91m Euromillions jackpot were unveiled as Les Scadding and his wife Samantha Peachey-Scadding, from south Wales, and a syndicate of IT workers from Merseyside, dubbed 'The Magnificent Seven'. Each ticket was worth £45,570,835.50.

Mr Scadding, 58, declared himself "a very lucky man". Five years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer but has since been given the all-clear. "I'm lucky to be here today even without my winnings," he said.

The father of three grown-up children from a previous marriage lives in a three-bedroom end of terrace house in the small town of Caerleon, near Newport, with his 38-year-old wife.

He purchased a lucky dip ticket only because he forgot to take the card bearing his usual numbers on his trip to Tesco.

The mechanic and haulage driver was made redundant a year ago and until Friday was £68 in the red. He said he was looking forward to spoiling his wife, who runs a marketing and public relations business, after being a "kept man". "To start with, being unemployed meant I could have a few extra games of golf and meet the lads in the pub at lunchtime. But it wasn't like that in reality. We have struggled this year but now it is my turn to make it up to Sam."

Mr Scadding intends to buy a black Range Rover Sport with ivory interior. He said: "I have never, ever in my life owned a new car. I'm going to buy one now."

He described the win as "fate", explaining: "It's a funny thing but for the last 12 years I have always said I'm going to win the lottery. "My family all laughed at me. My daughter, who lives in Abu Dhabi, always asked, 'Have you won the lottery?' I rang her at the weekend and when I told her the whoop at the end was just incredible."

At a separate press conference on Merseyside, the other seven winners - who will each bank £6.5 million - reflected on their new lives. John Walsh, 57, James Bennett, 28, Sean Connor, 32, Alex Parry, 19, Emma Cartwright, 23, Ceri Scullion, 35 and Donna Rhodes, 39, have already quit their jobs at the BT office in Liverpool, where they were employed by Hewlett Packard.

They formed the syndicate only four months ago and Mr Walsh bought a lucky dip ticket. "I couldn't sleep on Sunday morning so ended up checking the numbers on Teletext at 3am. I had to wake up my wife, son and daughter so they could double check I wasn't dreaming."

Mr Walsh called the others to break the good news. "I didn't quite get the response I expected because, with the economy in the state that it's in, they all thought I was calling them to tell they had been made redundant."

Each of the syndicate members earned between £15,000 and £18,000 per year. Mr Bennett, who is married with two young sons, said: "I have never owned a house and we have already been searching on the internet. It is the most amazing feeling to be able to click the button which says 'No maximum price'. It is hard to believe that these dream homes we are looking at are now in our price range." Mrs Rhodes added: "We're just normal people. I don't know how to be different. I don't know what to do in an estate agents, I've never bought a house."

Mrs Scullion, who is planning a holiday to Menorca, fell off her stool in the nail salon when she heard the news. She plans to buy a minibus for the local children's hospital, which treated her son for a hole in the heart.

The youngest winner, Miss Parry, had been saving for the past year to buy her first car "and so the first thing I will do is treat myself to a blue Vauxhall Corsa." The win also means she can fulfil her dream of going to university. She turned down the chance last year because she was deterred by the prospect of student debt.

(ref. Telegegraph, UK)

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