Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I won £1m on Lotto then went to work on Christmas Day
Dedicated pub chef made sure customers got a turkey dinner
PUB chef Didzis Pirags won £1million on the Lotto last Saturday and still turned up for work on Christmas Day to make dinner for his customers.
But the devoted dad, who is a single parent, knows his windfall will now give his five-year-old son a “dream” future.
Didzis, 36, said: “He’s the most important thing to me, no matter how much money I have.
“All I want is to be able to provide the best possible life for my son and this win will enable me to do exactly this.”
The Latvian-born chef and kitchen manager, who has a £26,000 salary, won with the National Lottery’s Merry Millions online scratchcard game.
He has already bought a £280,000 house so that he and his son can move out of their home above the pub, where Didzis works 12-hour shifts.
As he sipped champagne to celebrate his win, Didzis said his son was his “whole life”.
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He said: “When the money landed in my account I showed him online and asked him to count all the zeros. He got up to five, but after that he got a bit confused.
“He won’t be spoiled. I did not go out and spend any more money on him. He got the headphones and other bits he wanted, just like he’d asked Santa for.”
Didzis, who moved to the UK in 2011, has brought his son up alone after splitting from the boy’s mum.
He has worked at The Phantom Winger in Broughton, Lancs, for two and a half years.
He was in working on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and will be back in the kitchen today. He said: “I still need to finish my shifts.”
But he is looking for a new job to give him more time at home and a “better work/life balance”.
He said: “I want something that lets me see my son at weekends. I’ve always been in catering, but I might fancy a change.”
Didzis was on his lunch break last Saturday when he played the £5 game and won £1million.
He said: “This is totally unbelievable what has happened and the best dream come true ever at Christmas time.”
Pub manager Lisa Stambridge, 37, said: “He works so hard, so he really deserves this. We’ll all miss him. This couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.”
All I want to do is provide the best life for my son DIDZIS PIRAGS £1M LOTTO GAME WINNER