Norwich Strikes It Rich

A VET nurse won a £160,000 People's Postcode Lottery prize after ignoring his fiancé's call to stop playing, and now plans to make their wedding a day to remember.

Jack broke down after being presented with his cheque before revealing the bumper amount to husband-to-be AJ, who'd said he should ditch his ticket.

Tearful Jack, of Ringland, Norwich, said, "It will change our lives forever. We're getting married next year. I've never had money in my life. I never expected this to be six figures."

"We'll have the wedding of our dreams. We have already booked what we wanted, but we might add a few surprises for the guests."

AJ laughed, "I think I told him to stop playing because we had so many things to pay. Don't listen to me! That's what will be in the vows."

The financial adviser added, "We'll be playing the Postcode Lottery theme tune as we walk down the aisle."

Jack landed the windfall with nine neighbours in the picture-postcard village of Ringland, near Norwich, in Norfolk, after NR8 6AB was announced as the winner of our £3.2 million Postcode Millions prize today. Every ticket in the postcode was worth £160,000.

A further 1,159 people playing with the wider Norwich postcode sector of NR8 6 received cheques ranging from £1,264 to £3,792, depending on how many tickets they played with.

Jack and AJ will tie the knot in stunning nearby Arts & Crafts manor Voewood House in October next year.

They plan to have a total of 200 people to celebrate with them on the big day, with dachshund Harry and Labradoodle Bertie as potential ring-bearers. Guests will be treated to posh nosh while a string quartet plays in the background.

And now they aim to top off their big day with a dream honeymoon in America.

Jack said, "It's a dream venue, we've got it from the Friday to the Sunday."

He added, "We might do an America road trip now and end up in LA to see a friend."

AJ said, "The Excel spreadsheet just exploded. Why not? We're only planning on doing it once."

He added, "I will be telling everyone to play now."

Jack told how he started playing People's Postcode Lottery after his mum signed up, but never thought he'd win.

He said, "My mum plays locally and she mentioned it. I thought I would do it because you never know what is going to happen. Even when I entered, I never expected it to happen to me. This amount of money is mind-blowing."

Further along the leafy country lane, close friends and neighbours Laura and Sophie told how they could barely contain their excitement after finding out they had won together.

The chums - who have known each other since they were 12 and whose partners have lived in the village all their lives - each banked £160,000.

Midwife Laura said, "Oh my God! I'm shaking. This has been the best and worst week ever. You imagine everything. It's been nerve-racking and I've not been able to sleep properly.

"Sophie got the phone call first and she was screaming down the phone at me. We've been really excited together. She's a really close friend. We have known each other since high school. Our partners grew up in this village together, we go on holidays together and they're godparents to my kids. This is a really exciting day for us."

Laura's first plan is to finish her garden and turbo-charge the family's Florida holiday already planned for later this year.

The mum-of-two said, "I'd like to finish the garden. I need a new fence and an area for my hot tub.

"This might also be our last trip to Florida for a few years, so we can make it a good one. The kids would like to swim with dolphins, and I'd like to take a trip to the Everglades. We'll let the kids really enjoy it. We'll also invest a bit of money for the children."

But Laura hinted there could be treats for her and hubby Tommy, a mechanic at the family garage firm.

She said, "Maybe we can go to Yellowstone National Park now. My husband loves the TV show. I'd like to have a girls' trip. Me and my friend were talking about going to Ibiza for a weekend, maybe to see Calvin Harris."

At first Laura thought she had cancelled her subscription after checking her direct debits, then realised she paid it through PayPal.

She said, "It would have been awful not to have won."

Diagonally opposite, pal Sophie said, "It's amazing to win with Laura. We've been friends since we were 12. Our partners grew up in this village and have known each other all their lives."

"We've been going over everything all week. We've been walking round the village at night and trying to compose ourselves.

"We can do some really cool stuff together."

Now the travel agency owner wants to treat her entire family to a sun-kissed break.

Mum-of-two Sophie said, "I'll be taking all my family on a holiday. I'm one of five. I'll take my mum, two brothers and two sisters. We'll maybe go to Greece or Cyprus to a really nice hotel."

And she said she and motor engineer partner Paul will have other plans for their windfall.

She said, "We will make some lovely memories with the children."

But first, she was planning to whoop it up at Newmarket Races hours after receiving her cheque.

She said, "I love the races, it's brilliant. I might have to upgrade our tickets now."

Bubbly grandmother Anne said she'll carry out improvements to her palm tree-lined bungalow - and help the family.

Mum-of-one Anne, who has been with partner Graham for more than 50 years, said, "I just can't believe this. If I'd won £1,000 that would have been unbelievable enough.

"I haven't really thought about what else to do with it, but we'll share it with family."

Tearful Charlotte, a full-time council worker and carer, started shaking and struggled to pull her cheque from its golden envelope.

She said, "Look at me, I'm a wreck. This means so much."

Charlotte, who has a daughter, stepdaughter and two step-grandchildren, said she and retired husband Mike might upgrade their holiday plans now.

She said, "We're only meant to be going to Lincoln for a week's holiday, but we might chuck that out of the window now. Southern Spain and Crete are our favourite places."

Former police firearms officer Patrick said he would surprise his eldest daughter with a 30th birthday treat.

The hotel and golf course maintenance man said, "It was her 30th birthday the other day and I can now go over there and put some money in her bank account and say, 'Happy Birthday!'"

But there will also be treats for wife Emma, youngest daughter Macy, and even his mechanic.

The grandad said, "There's possibly a holiday in this. It's a hell of a lot more than I thought it would be."

He added, "I've got an old BMW X5 in need of an MOT and new tyres. After that the garage man can have it. He's been good with me."

Sonia said she and golf greenkeeper hubby Phillip will treat their two daughters and four grandchildren to a Florida break, and they'd also love a trip to New Zealand.

Sonia said, "I'm a bit dazed. I thought it would be £30,000 at the most. I'm totally gobsmacked, to be honest.

"We'll take the family to Florida. We were in Alaska last year. We like to go to see places where we can look at the wildlife and the scenery. New Zealand would be good."

The couple have their own little flock of sheep in a nearby pasture, but there will be no treats for them.

Sonia joked, "The sheep have got their own bank account. They've got to support themselves."

She added, "It's been great to win with other neighbours. We'll be walking around with big smiles on our faces. Rather than one person winning, it's nice to share it."

Divorced grandad Keith said he'll revamp his home with the winnings - and sort out his three sons and six grandchildren.

Keith said, "I felt a bit bubbly inside. It was a nice sort of stress, not something that you go into shock and panic with and start shaking."

"I'll do some home improvement: new kitchen and bathroom. I won't spend it all at once, but I'll help family out which is what I want to do."

He added, "People's Postcode Lottery is a wonderful organisation when you consider what it does for all those charities."

Local Charities Win Too

Local good causes close to the winners in Norwich have benefitted from money raised by Postcode Lottery players.

Trigeminal Neuralgia Association received £25,000 last year to support marginalised Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) sufferers to share their experiences of this rare and life-limiting disease, bringing relief and companionship.

TN is sudden, severe facial pain. Living with the disease can be very difficult and can have a significant impact on a person's quality of life.

Thousands Of Deserving Projects

Today's prize is part of a draw promoted on behalf of Postcode Support Trust. Supported by our players, this trust provides regular grant funding to organisations that support people who need help to live happy and more fulfilled lives. Benefitting charities include Depaul UK, Kinship and Missing People.

With People's Postcode Lottery, 33% of the ticket price goes to charities and good causes. Our players have funded thousands of deserving projects and raised more than £1.3 billion for community groups and charitable organisations.

If you haven't signed up to play yet, it's quick and easy to join the fun. Winning postcodes are announced every single day and we have thousands of happy winners every week. See How It Works or check out the amazing Prizes which you could win.