Lancashire neighbours celebrating after sharing lottery prize worth £180,000

A group of Lancashire neighbours is celebrating after scooping thousands in a lottery win.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Five neighbours on a Chorley street shared £180,000 after their postcode was announced as a winner with People’s Postcode Lotteryy.

The neighbours won £30,000 each. However, one player, Neil Jones (36), took home £60,000 thanks to playing with two tickets.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Neil learned of his win on a video call with People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Matt Johnson. Neil gasped as his prize cheque was revealed: “Oh my God!”

People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Matt Johnson breaks the news online to five Chorley neighbours that they are sharing a prize of £180,000People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Matt Johnson breaks the news online to five Chorley neighbours that they are sharing a prize of £180,000
People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Matt Johnson breaks the news online to five Chorley neighbours that they are sharing a prize of £180,000

He was joined on the call with his partner Keith Riley, who laughed as the news sunk in. The couple are planning to get married in October next year. Neil said: “That’s our wedding paid for, and a house deposit!”

Keith added: “We’ve just spent the last few weeks working out finances and planning for the wedding, talking about how we’ll not spend here and there. For us, this means we can carry on burden free.”

Neil joked: “I’m glad you can speak, because I can’t!”

Talking about their honeymoon plans, Neil – who works as a team manager at BUPA – said: “My dad lives in Australia, so we were going to go over there and that was going to be something else to save for and now this just takes care of it.”

yan Pearson, from Chorley, hears the online news that he has won a share of £180,000 with four other neighbours in the Postcode Lotteryyan Pearson, from Chorley, hears the online news that he has won a share of £180,000 with four other neighbours in the Postcode Lottery
yan Pearson, from Chorley, hears the online news that he has won a share of £180,000 with four other neighbours in the Postcode Lottery
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Asked what he would do first Neil said: “We’ll open a bottle of prosecco and ring my mum, tell her the wedding is paid for!”

Another winner was Gillian Stokes. Gillian, 59, works for an environmental agency but is retiring at the end of the month. She loves to travel and had big plans for her winnings: “As soon as we can travel again, we’ll get out there and see the world. We want to go to the Galapagos islands and have a look round there. We’ve got a big list of the places in the world we want to go.

“I went to Japan a couple years ago and I’d like to go there again, we went to Argentina last year so we’d like to go there again. They’re such big countries to see!”

Ryan Pearson, 29, and his wife Hannah have just had a son, Henry. While talking about how they would spend the winnings the new baby was first thing on Ryan’s mind: “We’ll probably spoil Henry. We’ll probably enjoy ourselves a little bit now. but we’ll want to put it towards our future as well.”

Neil Jones, with partner Keith Riley, react to the news of their People’s Postcode Lottery win. Neil shared a prize of £180,000 with four other neighbours on his Chorley streetNeil Jones, with partner Keith Riley, react to the news of their People’s Postcode Lottery win. Neil shared a prize of £180,000 with four other neighbours on his Chorley street
Neil Jones, with partner Keith Riley, react to the news of their People’s Postcode Lottery win. Neil shared a prize of £180,000 with four other neighbours on his Chorley street
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Alison Booth, 49, was joined by her husband Michael on the call and laughed as her prize cheque was revealed.

Alison has spent much of the last year working on a Covid test site and has a special holiday on her mind for her winnings: “We got married at the beginning of 2019 and we haven’t had a honeymoon.”

The mum-of-two also planned to share her good fortune with her family: “My son is going to be 21 this year and my daughter has just moved away to York so I think both of them deserve a treat as well!”

The last winner on the street chose to remain anonymous and their winnings will be transferred directly to their bank account.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Matt Johnson sent his congratulations to the winners. He said: “I am over the moon for our winners in Chorley today, what great news for them! A wedding, honeymoons and dream holidays, it was lovely to hear about their plans and know that they will all be enjoying their winnings.”

A minimum of 32 per cent of People’s Postcode Lottery ticket sales goes directly to charities and players have helped raise more than £600 million to date for thousands of good causes across Britain and internationally.

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 per month for the first two months. Try us today by clicking here

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.