Members of the Davies family (from the left) Keith Reynolds, Sonia Davies, Stephanie Davies, Courtney Davies and Steve Powell, who scooped a £61.1 million EuroMillions jackpot, celebrate their win at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, south-east Wales.
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She had phoned home from Florida, where she had undergone an operation on her parathyroid glands, to ask the family to buy six tickets because she was “feeling lucky”. “She came down crying”. “Then I locked the doors just in case someone heard!”
Sonia said: “What a roller coaster of a week we’ve had!”
She phoned her mother, who was waiting to board her delayed flight home.
Admin assistant Sonia said: “All I could hear was Steph sobbing down the phone and the odd muffled word. It was the longest flight of our life”.
She then said we’d won the lottery.
Miss Davies and Mr Powell purchased their first home together at Christmas so will decorate, finishing their bathroom there and potentially take a trip to the Caribbean.
Courtney, 19, plans to finish her psychology degree at the University of Southampton – though she might splash out on an electric toothbrush and a new auto to replace her ageing VW. I thought she’d told me she’d lost her dog. Next on her list are an electric toothbrush and a auto to replace her VW Fox.
Davies and Reynolds, who live near Ross-on-Wye, will share their win with family and friends – although a new oak carport is on the cards.
Mr Reynolds said: “If you try and hide it, it all comes out in the end”. Sonia said: “I was anxious there was a problem”.
“I would hate people to think “oh look at them, they think they’re better than us now” because we are not that kind people. It will just give us the opportunity to help friends and family around us”. But we won’t go over the top.
“The most important thing is my health”.
The National Lottery changes the lives of winners like these as well as communities across the United Kingdom – players raise, on average, over £36m for National Lottery-funded projects every week across the arts, sports, heritage, health, education, environment, charity and voluntary sectors. But to win the life-changing jackpot players have to match all five main draw balls and both Lucky Stars.
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The victor matched the five main numbers drawn in Friday’s EuroMillions draw which were 1, 21, 26, 40 and 50.
