A couple with eight children and a pet parrot have won big on the Postcode Lottery - because they live in a tiny village near Bristol and they had four tickets between them.Mark and Wendy Skuse’s BS35 postcode covers the little hamlet of Lower Morton, just to the north of Thornbury, and their exact postcode was the winning one in the latest draw.
Three people living in the BS35 1LD postcode play the People’s Postcode Lottery - and each winning ticket gets £30,000. So while the third player living in the small South Gloucestershire hamlet, who chose to remain anonymous, got £30,000, because Mark and Wendy had two tickets each, they won four times over - and are now £120,000 to the good.
The couple run a drain service business together and have eight children and grandchildren, as well as a parrot called Benson. “I'm going to buy my parrot Benson a new cage,” joked Wendy, 53, who said her parrot is ‘very vocal’. “He's going to be singing the Postcode Lottery song back to me very soon!” she added.
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More seriously, she said the couple were looking to give back to some of the charities who have helped one of their granddaughters, who has WAGR Syndrome, a rare genetic condition.
“It's life changing really. I wasn't expecting this in my wildest dreams,” she said. “Our granddaughter has WAGR syndrome. So I'll put some money towards the charities that help her.
Wendy said she now plans to celebrate with her family. “They can all have a bottle of champagne and I'll stick to my pot of tea,” she added. “For the first time in my entire life I think I'm lost for words. It was such a shock, I can't explain it.”
The People’s Postcode Lottery costs £10 a month to play, and there are guaranteed winners every day, with their postcode being automatically entered into all draws. Over the years, the postcode lottery has helped raise more than £900 million for good causes across Britain and internationally.
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