£25m winner ladies
NHS cooks’ recipe for retirement: A lotto win!
LOUISE Ward only joined her work lottery syndicate last year and had been thinking of leaving it as she struggled to save up for her wedding.
Fortunately for her and the other five members she didn’t – because they have just landed a £25million jackpot after her numbers came up trumps.
The six NHS hospital cooks swapped pouring cups of tea for drinking glasses of champagne yesterday to celebrate their EuroMillions jackpot.
The syndicate, who call themselves the ‘Catering Girls’, picked up £4,246,129.72 each and have already handed in their notice at Neath Port Talbot Hospital in South Wales, where an average day involved serving 270 meals and drinks to patients.
Julie Saunders, 56, started the syndicate six years ago, but it was the newest recruit, Mrs Ward, 37, who chose the winning numbers.
Mrs Ward, who has worked as a catering assistant for 12 years, had contemplated quitting the syndicate a few months ago.
The divorced mother- of-two, from Port Talbot, is now planning a big wedding to fiancé Mark Haran next March.
Yesterday she said: ‘I had 80 people on my list and was trying to cut down on the numbers as it was too many. I can now have as many guests as I want. Imagine if I had stopped [playing] – we would never have won.’ The syndicate were the only winners of Friday’s £25,476,778.30 jackpot after matching ball numbers 5, 12, 17, 33, 41 and lucky stars 4 and 9. As well as the wedding, Mrs Ward is going to buy a new tumble dryer – her old one broke three months ago and she could not replace it so is renting one. The other winners are: Doreen Thompson, 56, from Ystalyfera, Jean Cairns, 73, from Briton Ferry, Sian Jones, 54, from Baglan, and Julie Amphlett, 50, from Neath. Mrs Cairns retired from the hospital last year but the other women went into work together to hand in their notice after discovering they had won. Their celebrated their good fortune yesterday at Hensol Castle, outside Cardiff. Mrs Saunders, from Port Talbot, is an Elvis Presley fanatic and is now planning a holiday in Las Vegas and to visit Graceland, the singer’s home in Memphis, Tennessee, with Mrs Cairns. ‘ I’ve enjoyed working at the hospital for many years, but now it is someone else’s turn to take on the roles,’ said Mrs Saunders. A hospital spokesman said: ‘We are thrilled for them, but we will be sorry to see them go. They have done their time catering for our patients, now they can look forward to being waited on hand and foot themselves.’