A WOMAN who won £77k on the People’s Postcode Lottery has said she will splash the cash on her expensive daughter.
Heather McIlhiney-Grant, a pregnant NHS worker, is one of a dozen of Northamptonshire neighbours celebrating after scooping the jackpot on the popular lotto.
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The twelve lucky neighbours were over the moon after winning thousands each in the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Heather, who is expecting her second child in September, scooped £76,923 when her street in Brixworth won the prestigious prize.
Now the mum says her “life-changing” win will help her to spend more time with her husband Will, 31, and their daughter Theia, 4.
Heather told the Northampton Chronicle: “This [money] honestly couldn’t have come at a better time. The baby is due in early September on the same week Theia starts school. It’s all going on.”
Healthcare worker Heather married NHS nurse Will two years ago and the caring couple plan to give a helping hand to their young family.
Heather added: “Kids are so expensive. They grow out of their clothes so quickly and you just want to give them everything.”
“We can buy a bigger car and it’ll mean I can enjoy a year’s maternity leave.”
The 29-year-old was contacted by the lottery six days before she found out how much they’d won.
Heather said: “Our street has a WhatsApp group chat and we’d all been chatting, wondering if it was real and how much we might have won.
“I seen a flood of red jackets and cameras going past my window and everyone was texting me asking if they’d knocked on my door yet.
“It was making me all hot and sweaty and I was already feeling like an oven.”
Heather says she will not splash the cash but will treat herself to a pair of new shoes.
She said: “I’ll buy a new pair of Crocs! I got a pair for when I’m out in the garden but now I wear them everywhere.”
Another lucky neighbour was Jon Byrne, 40.
He and his fiancee Prue Dillon are now planning to tie the knot sooner than expected thanks to his massive windfall.
Data analyst Jon said: “We’ve been engaged for five years, and we can accelerate plans for a wedding now.
“We’ve looked at venues and things but we’ve never really tied anything down because of money really but this changes things.”
‘PHENOMENAL’
Across the road, Emma Brennan, 41, also scored more than £76,000 after only recently signing up to the lottery.
The stunned mum-of-two said: “Oh my God it’s a phenomenal amount of money! I’m so glad we signed up in time.”
Adventurous Emma says her bumper win will go towards travelling across the world with her husband Matt, 43 and their two sons – George, 13, and Max, 12.
The elated mum added: “We can start having adventures with the kids while they’re still young. We’ve always wanted to go to New York, and we’ve got family in Australia so that’s another option.
“Our future starts now.”
When rugby fan Phillip Burton, 75, found out he had won he said: “That’s better than a kick in the teeth, isn’t it?”
Phillip says the cash will help secure his plans for retirement alongside his wife of 53 years, Carol, 74.
Gillian Raygada, 69, was delighted to win alongside so many of her neighbours, she said: “We’re going to start celebrating tonight with the neighbours.
“We’re very close in this street so I think we could have a street party!”
Also celebrating more than £76,000 was dad-of-two Jim Johnson, 53 and Kim Pestell, 60.
Another neighbour on the street bagged the biggest sum of £153,846 thanks to playing with two tickets but chose to remain anonymous.
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