Great-grandparents’ £1m lotto joy

A former engineer and his wife from the Black Country are set to enjoy the perfect retirement after winning nearly £1 million on the lottery.

Great-grandfather David Williams, aged 71, was just about to go to bed when his wife Marina, 70, said she had checked their ticket and initially thought they had matched four numbers. In true British style, David said he would make a cup of tea to calm their nerves and would have something to eat, after realising they had all six numbers.

The stunned couple sat eating bacon sandwiches until the early hours while they waited to find out how much they had won.

David and ex-factory worker Marina were today celebrating their £968,792 windfall at Patshull Park Hotel in Pattingham, near Wolverhampton, with their children John, aged 45, Sue, 43, and 41-year-old Paul.

The couple, who now live in Telford and have 13 grandchildren and five great grandchildren, celebrated their good fortune by going to the pub for lunch.

David was brought up in Hopkins Street, near Burntree in Tipton, and also lived in the Blackheath and Rowley areas before moving to Adelaide Street, Brierley Hill, where he worked for former steel giant Round Oak Steel Works which closed in the 1980s.

He also worked for a spell on oil rigs in the Middle-East in the mid-70s.

Plans are already in motion for spending the win. David wants the new Jaguar XF and Marina wants to buy a holiday home in Minorca.

David, a retired engineer, said today: “It hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m still shaking – but it does feel very good.”

He said of their win on last Wednesday’s Lotto Jackpot: “It was past midnight when we checked the numbers and after ringing our daughter Sue with the news, we sat watching Teletext until 3am with bacon butties to keep us going while we waited to see how much we’d won.”

The winning numbers were 3, 9, 11, 24, 29 and 43 – 3 is Marina’s birthday, 9 is David’s birthday), 11 is Paul’s birthday, 24 is Sue’s birthday, 29 is John’s birthday and 43 was their old house number.