A LOTTERY winner from the North East has revealed how she plans to spend the £10,000 a month she will be getting for the next year.
Sam Gray, 46, from Whitley Bay, is celebrating after her online ticket matched the five main numbers in the Set For Life draw on May 26.
Sam, who works in banking, plans to spend the next 12 months learning to drive, renovating her apartment and returning to a much-loved family holiday destination.
As a regular National Lottery player, Sam was always a fan of Lucky Dip tickets and rarely selected her own numbers.
However, this time, she decided to take a chance on her chosen numbers that she had saved to her online National Lottery account more than two years ago but never used…until now.
She was shocked when she discovered that she had become the lucky winner of the £10,000-a-month-for-one-year prize and is now planning to embark on a year of making lots of new memories.
Sam said: “I never choose my own numbers and always go for a Lucky Dip – but something inside me told me to go with the numbers I’d picked for myself over two years ago.
“I just couldn’t believe it when I logged on to my National Lottery account to see that I’d won – it didn’t seem real at all.
"I left a very garbled voicemail for my partner asking him to call me back and then somehow tried to concentrate on work that afternoon, all the while still in shock.”
After losing her dad last year, Sam is now planning to take her mum back to Pefkos, in Rhodes, where the family used to holiday together, while also donating to a Greek dog shelter from where she rescued her beloved pooch.
And, with extra cash in the bank, Sam is looking forward to learning how to drive and buying her own set of wheels, while converting her loft into a home office is also on the list.
Of her fond holiday memories, Sam said: “As a family, we had some amazing holidays in Rhodes and it holds a very special place in my heart, especially now that my dad is no longer with us.
"So, to be able to take my mum back there to relive some of those old memories and spend time together making new ones is incredible.
“I’m also planning to finally learn to drive – I’d put it off for years, as owning a car always seemed out of reach so I never saw the point of having lessons.
"However, I have no excuse now so will be making a block booking and can't wait to go shopping for my first car.”
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