Three families on a Chester street are celebrating after scooping their share of a £1m Postcode Lottery jackpot. Residents on Mannings Lane in Hoole - CH2 3RT - won Postcode Lottery’s weekly Millionaire Street prize on Saturday (April 27), with each ticket worth a whopping £333,333.
Among the three winning households was horse-racing fan Roly Humphreys, 42, who hinted that he may use his winnings to fulfil a dream of having his own racehorse - as long as he can convince his wife! The dad-of-one said: “I haven’t decided what I will spend it on, everything will be subject to spousal approval, obviously.
"A holiday, I’m sure. It’s my little girl’s fourth birthday next month, so I’m sure she’ll get some treats. I would say buy a horse, but I don’t think I would get away with that. I’m a massive racing fan so I’d like to buy even the leg of a horse, but I’m not sure I’ll get than one approved. Who knows?"
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Roly shared the Millionaire Street pot with two neighbours. He added: "I feel shocked, but surreal. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I think to anyone this sort of money will really make a difference. Our daughter’s four so we’ve got a lot of things to look forward to with her in life. But there are a lot of things we will want to save money for.
"University fees are a long way off, but things like that and this will really, really help make sure that she’s got everything that she needs. I’ll finish the garden which you couldn’t go into because it’s a wasteland at the back…a building site."
Roly and his clinical pharmacist wife Sian initially thought the win was a set-up by one of their prankster pals. He explained: “I’ve got a few mates and we sort of play the odd practical joke. I told my best mate and I was like ‘this isn’t you, is it?’ And then the more it started happening I was like I’m not sure that he’s got the resources to hire different people from Scotland and set up a web domain.”
Roly added: “It was then I thought it was real. I thought the maximum, which would have been amazing, would have been the £30,000 street prize." And he was delighted to win with one of his close neighbours, Geoff Williams, 79, who landed the same amount. He said: "It’s really nice, really lovely to win with my neighbours because we know them and they’re lovely people. It’s really nice to share it with them."
Roly has two charities close to his heart, supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery – Cats Protection and the Canal & River Trust. He said: “We have a deaf house cat called Lola who I got from Cats Protection about 12 years ago. That’s a charity that I support anyway and it’s great that People’s Postcode Lottery supports them as well.
"The Canal & River Trust is a charity that a lot of people in Chester support because the canal is a really big issue around here. It gets publicised quite a lot in the media, so it’s really good that Postcode Lottery also supports that." He added: “Knowing that this helps local charities I think does make it a little bit better. Feeling like you’ve helped out a bit, however indirectly, through playing is good."
Retired draftsman Geoff said he’ll use the winnings to modify his bungalow to make life better for his poorly wife Pat, who’s currently in hospital. Grandad Geoff, who has vascular Parkinson’s, said: “This is good, a good moment really. It is absolutely excellent.
"My wife is in hospital, so we need to do some modifications to the house so that it is more accessible for when she comes out. I have vascular Parkinson’s which makes life difficult getting around. I need a few things doing to make life easier in the house."
He added: “This is an incredible amount of money. As soon as we can we’ll get all the family together.” Both winners spoke of the importance of signing up for People’s Postcode Lottery so charities can benefit. And one local charity, The Bren Project, has been awarded £70,000 by Postcode Community Trust thanks to their wins.
The independent charity offers people with learning disabilities and autism the opportunity to experience supported, bespoke work placements in and around Chester. Bren Bikes, a working bicycle workshop, is one of the services the charity operates. The in-house training programme supports beneficiaries in developing a wide range of employability skills, overseen by qualified mechanics.
Andrew Ashford, Charity Manager at The Bren Project, said: “The funding we have been awarded has come as a complete shock and will go a long way in supporting the maintenance of our core services – The Bren Project, Bren Bikes and our Wellbeing Hub – as well as kick-starting expansions plans for our long-awaited café, to sit alongside our Bren Bikes provision.”
Bren Bikes is a hub of activity for cycling enthusiasts across Cheshire, being positioned in the centre of the North Wales Coastal Route. In 2023 alone the workshop refurbished over 1,500 bicycles. Andrew added: “The Bren Project has become so engrained in the wider Cheshire community so it feels very special to be able to start planning our next exciting project, which will help us support more of the community who live with learning disabilities and autism."
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