Laid-off worker celebrates share of £4.5 millon Lotto win
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Your support makes all the difference.A man who was made redundant three months ago was celebrating today after winning a share of a £4.5 million lottery jackpot.
Jim McGrail, 49, is one of a nine-strong syndicate of regulars from the Doon Inn in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, who scooped the windfall on Saturday.
The group recently switched to the Lucky Dip after playing the same numbers every Saturday for 15 years.
However, initially they did not realise they had won.
Syndicate member Sandy Morton, 65, wrote down the numbers incorrectly as they watched the draw on television.
Mr Morton, who bought the ticket, was in the pub with a couple of other syndicate members at the time.
"I got the beer mat out and wrote all the numbers down and said we've got five numbers.
"Then a friend came over and looked at it and said you've written 22 instead of 32 so you've got six numbers.
"Then it was celebrations. The whole pub erupted. Everybody in the pub was happy for us - it was fantastic.
"I'm planning to help my family out, and enjoy more holidays as my wife and I like to go away."
He phoned the others in the group, all from the Blantyre area, who came to join the celebrations.
However one member did not find out about the win until yesterday because he was away on holiday and out of mobile phone signal range.
The winning numbers for the £4,525,058 jackpot were 3, 5, 17, 32, 40 and 43 and the syndicate was its only winners.
The nine, who won around £500,000 each, toasted their good luck with champagne and beer when they received the cheque from Camelot representatives today.
They said their new-found wealth is still sinking in.
The Lotto win comes at a good time for Mr McGrail, who was made redundant as a manufacturing shift manager at Freescale in East Kilbride at the end of June.
He said: "I was devastated at the time but this means a life change.
"It's been quite a year."
He has not decided what to do with his winnings yet, though a Harley Davidson motorbike is on his shopping list.
The other winners are Sandy's brother William Morton, 61, Bobby McLauchlan, 51, Iain Macdonald, 55, and four others who want to remain anonymous.
Mr McLauchlan, a driving instructor who has two grown-up children, said: "I could not believe it at first. This is life-changing stuff.
"I will be planning a holiday and my wife wants a new house."
Mr Macdonald, a married sales manager with two adult sons, said he is "ecstatic" about the win but has not yet decided what to do with the money.
Mr Morton, who is retired and has an adult son and daughter, bought the winning ticket in Blantyre.
The syndicate started in 1994 but members have fluctuated over the years.
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