A Burnham-On-Sea WW2 veteran is celebrating after winning a huge £685,713 in a lotto jackpot.
Bernard Botting, 98, is among 1,058 Burnham-On-Sea lottery winners who scooped a share of £3.2m in the People’s Postcode Lottery’s monthly draw.
Widower Bernard originally was handed a very respectable cheque for £228,571, but then receved two more to triple his winnings because he plays with three tickets.
“I never thought I’d win…I just hoped,” Bernard says as three generations of his family proudly watched him receive his cheque. “Now that I’ve seen it – fantastic! The family are all going to get something.”
Bernard began playing Postcode Lottery with his late wife, Doris, who sadly passed away in 2017.
Bernard adds: “When we started the lottery, my wife and I said that if we ever won, we must share it with family.”
“Unfortunately, she’s not here anymore. My daughter will get the most because she has been fantastic. She took over from my wife when she died and looked after me every day.”
“It amazed me when I received the first cheque, then I got two other envelopes with the same amount in all three. My wife would be thrilled.”
Son-in-law Alan Marshall, 83, added: “You can retire now, dad!” Daughter Marie Marshall, 82, added: “He can get a super-charged scooter.”
It comes after one couple revealed how they won their share of £1million in the People’s Postcode lottery despite moving house.
Luke Silver, 34, and wife Kayleigh won a life-changing £100,000 alongside the neighbours they hadn’t lived near for three years.
But there were more family fortunes when the Marshalls and their nurse daughter Donna Matthews, 57, discovered they’d each won £1,334 – because they all live in the wider TA8 2 postcode area.
Across the street, Shirley Baynham, 71, was stunned when her cheque was revealed – then said it was all down to her late husband Les, who died of cancer four years ago aged 71.
Dinner lady Shirley, 71, said: “My husband always loved doing the Postcode Lottery, but he passed away four years ago.”
“I wanted to keep it going, so I changed it over to my name. It seems as if he’s looking down on me and looking after his sons and grandchildren.”
Now she’s planning to treat her two boys and six grandchildren – as well as staff at the nearby primary school she works in.
She said: “I’ll buy doughnuts for all the teachers and staff at the school. I’m excited and very, very nervous. I’m not used to things like this. I’m just a down-to-earth person.”
Warehouse supervisor son Mark, 48, said: “This is a bit of good news for a change.”
Diagonally opposite, former lorry driver Peter Wrigglesworth, 81, joked that he’d give wife Joyce a little slice of his new fortune.
Dad-of-two Peter said: “As Victor Meldrew said, ‘I don’t believe it’. I’ll give her £571 and I’ll decide what to do with the rest.”
Joyce, 79, said: “Oh my God, I can’t believe it. It can’t be that much surely.”
The great grandparents now plan to visit grandson Gavin Woolford, wife Myra and their one-year-old lad in Ohio, USA – and Peter’s brother Donald, 90, near Auckland in New Zealand’s North Island.
Joyce said: “We’ll get a taxi to the airport in London and fly Club Class. We’ve done a lot of travelling and have seen a lot of the world. But it would be great to see more. Dreams really do come true.”
Directly opposite, winner John Bradbury, 67, and wife Alison, 66, said they’d love to go on a Nordic cruise – as well as look after their three kids and seven grandchildren.
Retired hospital porter John said: “We’ll treat the kids, but we’re going to have a holiday. After that, we’ll sit down and think how to invest it.”
Retired phlebotomist Alison added: “This is unbelievable. It means everything… great happiness.”
The fifth big winner does not want publicity.
People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Jeff Brazier said: “Someone’s knocking on your shore! It was a cracking day at the seaside, handing out life-changing cheques to our biggest winners in the full winning postcode.”
“And it’s amazing that over 1,050 people have each scooped a tidy four-figure sum. Congratulations Burnham-On-Sea!”
People’s Postcode Lottery costs £12 a month to play and there are guaranteed winners every day. People play with their chosen postcode and are automatically entered into all draws. Players of People’s Postcode Lottery have raised more than £1.1 billion for thousands of charities and local good causes.
