FIVE neighbours in a Herefordshire village are celebrating a big win this weekend after their postcode was picked in the People's Postcode Lottery's 30k a day street prize draw.
Four of the winners, who all live in Dormington, won cheques for £30,000 each on October 17, while the fifth, who plays with two tickets, doubled their prize money and picked up a whopping £60,000.
One of the £30,000 winners was Melanie, a local fundraiser. She found out how much she'd won over a video call with street prize presenter Jeff Brazier.
The win was well deserved for Melanie, who not only fundraises for a living, but also helps raise money for cystic fibrosis charities and her local church in her spare time.
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Melanie said: "I massively believe in the power of charities and the work they do. I work for The Royal National College for the Blind which is a national further education college for people with visual impairments. My job is to find funding wherever possible. I still need to get on with my work today, but I promised my team I'd take them all out for lunch if I won!
"Our 20-year-old son has cystic fibrosis so we've been fundraising for cystic fibrosis charities for his whole life. We've been campaigning for a new drug which has just been rolled out, so winning this is the icing on the cake!"
To top it all off, the college where Melanie works received over £12,000 last year, thanks to players of People's Postcode Lottery, to buy braille displays that allow visually-impaired computer users who are unable to use a monitor to read text.
Melanie said: "I only signed up to play because of the money that goes to charity. It's all come full circle!
"It's a great little community. I've got the most amazing set of neighbours. We all helped each other over lockdown. I help fundraise for the local church, too, and everyone is great."
If she decides to take a break from her hard work, Melanie will use her winnings to treat herself and her husband, Chris, to a trip away. She said, "Chris and I had to cancel a trip to Venice for our 27th wedding anniversary so that's definitely back on when we're allowed. We want to do some travelling around. I've been banging on about getting a campervan, but I'll need to convince him!"
When asked how she would be celebrating, Melanie said, "My son is coming home so we will celebrate with some champagne. Hopefully I have some I can dig out. He will be hoping for a little present I'm sure!"
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