Syndicate Wins Dream Jackpot
Last Updated: Wednesday 7th August 2013, 13:32
A syndicate of catering and cleaning staff at Clayton Barracks in Aldershot are the first winners of the new Dream Number jackpot to go public. Dame Kelly Holmes helped to mark the occasion by celebrating with the syndicate, which scooped £500,000 on Wednesday 13 September by matching all seven number in the order they were drawn.
"I am very pleased to be celebrating this fantastic win with the lucky syndicate today," Dame Kelly Holmes said according to a Camelot press release. "Dream Number is a fantastic game as all the Good Causes money raised from every ticket bought goes towards funding the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. It's great that games like Dream Number offer National Lottery players the chance to win gold themselves, while also playing their part in supporting London 2012."
Dream Number has been running for several weeks, but until now none of the winners have opted to publicise their good fortune. However, the Aldershot syndicate didn't want to keep the good news to themselves for a moment longer than that had to.
"We are all absolutely thrilled with the win," said syndicate member James Rigney. "The remarkable thing is that if it had been left to me we would never have even bought a ticket. Two weeks previously, I suggested that we stopped playing the National Lottery! Instead I thought it would be good if we all still put our money in the pot and then used it for a great Christmas bash. Luckily, no one agreed with me!
"I found out that we had won on the Thursday morning following the Wednesday draw," James said. "Karen Gibson, who runs the syndicate, came into the office and told us all to sit down. She then told us that we had won the Dream Number jackpot! I didn't believe her and was sure she was joking. We always have a joke when we play the lottery - in fact I always demand my money back when we don't win!
"Karen found out on the evening of the draw but didn't phone any of the syndicate members. She was worried that she had got it wrong so she wanted to check first before telling anyone. Karen said she was so nervous about losing the ticket that evening that she slept with it underneath her pillow!"
"I don't have any big plans at the moment on what to spend the money on," James continued. "The funny thing is that I have just traded in my sports car because it was costing me too much in petrol - if I had won a week earlier I probably would have kept it! I have been looking for a new house though, so the money will probably go towards that. I have also given my four children some of the money to enjoy and one of them is planning to spend it on a trip to the Bahamas next year."