Life-changing scratchcard win for Kent couple a 'dream start' to 2022 after tough year of shielding
A lucky Kent couple are celebrating after winning the £300,000 jackpot on a Scrabble Lottery Scratchcard.
Louisa and Greg Tomlinson, from Ash, say the money will change their lives after a difficult couple of years.
Louisa has been shielding while she recovers from a stroke and subsequent treatment to mend a hole in her heart.
Her ill health had a significant impact on their finances and future plans, but now those future plans now look very bright. Louisa, 57, said, “It’s been a really tough couple of years.
"I’d just started a new job when I had the stroke, and in treating that the doctors discovered that I also had a hole in my heart.
"I haven’t worked since, and Greg, a trained electrician, had to take a part-time delivery job so he was around to look after me as I recovered."
The couple bought their winning Scratchcard at Tesco Extra in Broadstairs, Kent, just before Christmas.
Greg, 67, says he'll never forget it: “There’s no special reason I chose two Scrabble Cashword Scratchcards but I’m very pleased I did.
"Once we got home we put the shopping away and, with a cup of tea in hand, sat down to play our scratchcards.
"I was busy with mine when Louisa said ‘I think I’ve won £10,000’ then paused and counted the number of words she’d revealed again and then said, ‘hang on, I think we’ve won an awful lot of money!’
“I looked at her scratchcard and saw that she had revealed 12 words which meant the top prize of £300,000. This sort of thing doesn’t happen to people like us so we checked, double-checked and triple-checked before I finally said, ‘I think we’d better call Camelot.’ When they confirmed the win, we burst into tears.”
With their win confirmed, the pair signed the back of the card, locked it away securely and then barely left the house for fear of losing it, the house burning down or their beloved Golden Retriever, Teddy, getting into the filing cabinet and eating it!
Louisa said, “It sounds crazy but I was actually too scared to think about it, and wouldn’t even look at the filing cabinet. I think we were in a state of shock and just couldn’t believe that our biggest dream, to finally buy our own home"
With the money now in the bank the couple, who have been married for 22 years and have 5 children, are wasting no time. Louisa has been back on Rightmove creating a shortlist of properties to view in Norfolk.
“This really is a dream come true, it’s going to give us both a much better quality of life," she said.
"Living in our own home, that nobody can take away from us, will bring peace of mind and I’m sure will be brilliant for my recovery too.
“Once I am back on my feet and we are settled in, I want to volunteer at the local hospital, to give back to the NHS who looked after me so well. Without them, I wouldn’t be here today for another truly life-changing event, but this time a very good one!”