£18m won’t change us!
UK’s oldest lotto winners give most of it away – and still live in a semi
BRITAIN’S oldest lottery winners say their £18million prize hasn’t changed them – and are staying in their semi-detached home. Instead of buying a mansion, Dennis Banfield, 87, and his wife Shirley, 83, are renovating the three-bedroom property they bought for £2,000 in 1961.
And while they might upgrade their three-door Nissan Micra car, it will be something a little roomier, ‘not a Ferrari or a Maserati’.
The stereotypical lottery winner’s dream of jetting off around the world doesn’t appeal, either. They have given a third of the £18,139,352 winnings to each of their grown-up daughters, Tina Burgess, 54, and Karen Maddock, 52, then donated most of the remaining £6million to worthy causes.
Beneficiaries include cancer units, their local children’s hospital, a chapel and community groups.
While renovations have taken place at their home in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire, since August, the Banfields have stayed in a modest hotel where rooms cost from £66 a night.
But they are looking forward to returning the home the bought as a new-build 57 years ago for a quiet Christmas with family, including their daughters. Mr and Mrs Banfield are grandparents to daughter Karen’s two children and Tina’s three step-children.
Mrs Banfield said: ‘I wouldn’t say the money has changed us – it’s only prompted us to better other people. We can’t exactly go jetting off on a round-the-world adventure at our age. We decided to stay in the house, and just have the whole of the inside of it completely redone.
‘We’ve been there for 57 years now. We know the area, the house is not overlooked, it’s got a lovely big driveway.
‘We’ve been staying here at the Hilton since August 12, but we’re near to our house so we’ve gone back to see it as it’s been done up.’
She added: ‘There’s still a bit of a way to go on it, but we’re hoping to move back in within the next fortnight – we’ll definitely be back in time for Christmas.’
The front garden of the couple’s £316,000 home is full of fittings torn out for the renovations and a skip is filled with plasterboard.
The generous couple told how they want to help others. Mrs Banfield, who used to work in local government and also as a shop assist- ant, said: ‘We’ve given a lot of it away in lump sums.
‘We’ve been able to give to the cancer units, to the (Bristol) children’s hospital, as well as helping out our community in Winterbourne and giving to the chapel and community association.’
They are also considering giving some of their winnings to staff at the hotel when they leave, with Mrs Banfield saying: ‘We see the staff here almost like family now.’ Their daughters have both bought new houses with their share.
Mrs Banfield bought the winning ticket from a newsagent in Bristol in February, opting for one line of Lucky Dip numbers. Her husband said they found out they had won the following morning when she read out the digits, commenting: ‘Who’d have those numbers?’ He was able to say ‘I do’.
Mr Banfield, who spent 40 years working for South West Electricity Board and who turns 88 on December 11, added: ‘It just means a lot to us to know that our daughters are looked after. We joke that it’s just a matter of time and we are playing the lottery for them, so that they are financially secure forever.’
He added: ‘While I didn’t think I would be interested in a new car, it is rather tempting. Although, with my dodgy knee, I might need to get a chauffeur to go with the car.’
‘We can’t go jetting round the world’