North West lottery winners roll up their sleeves to help the homeless

National Lottery winners from across the North West, who are worth more than £40 million combined, have been helping to bring a smile to the faces of homeless young people.

The winners donned their painting overalls to help transform flats at Barnardo’s Rachel House in Bury which looks after homeless young people, supporting them to lead independent lives.

The winners were joined by staff from Rachel House and volunteers from the Prince’s Trust and spent a full day painting flats and adding new fittings, including lamp shades.

Rachel House opened in 1994 as a joint partnership between Rachel House Trust, Regenda, Barnardo’s and Bury Council.

Regenda, Barnardo’s and Bury Council still remain in partnership with funding being provided by the local authority and voluntary funds from Barnardo’s.

Rachel House Trust has previously received more than £150,000 of National Lottery funding to allow it to build an extension which enabled more accommodation to be built along with offices and communal areas.

More recently it has benefit from funding via the Prince’s Trust which works with training providers, Groundwork, offering educational and training programmes to the young people.

The winners taking part on the day included one of the Lotto’s biggest millionaires, Brian Caswell from Bolton, who won a whopping £24.9 million on the EuroMillions draw in June 2009.

He was joined by the region’s latest lottery winners, Sean and Mel Lloyd, from Ashton Under Lyne who won £1.8m in February; Nigel and Sharon Mather, from Sale (£12.3 million in June 2010); Dean and Stella Hardman, from Heywood (£6.7 million in November 2006); and Ben Woods from Wirral (£2.3 million in February 2004).

Last year the service supported more than 20 vulnerable young people from Bury between the ages of 16 and 21, with many of them now managing their own tenancies.