'We won the lottery but I even now check the cost of socks'

Profitable a existence-shifting amount of money is often a dream harboured by lots of, but what's everyday living like when that truly happens?

"Ray, we've got three numbers!"

Sat in your own home with a Saturday night time, nurse Barbara Wragg had switched over the Television to obtain the National Lottery success.

Supplying a running commentary to her spouse Ray, People 3 matching quantities within the pair's ticket promptly became "4", then "5" and afterwards astoundingly, the magic "six".

In 50 % an hour, the pair learnt they'd gained the £seven.6m jackpot and lifestyle had adjusted forever.


Recalling that moment Practically 1 / 4 of a century on, Ray remembers: "I mentioned "you happen to be kidding me?!"

"We ended up caught for what to do and what to mention. We ended up just flabbergasted."

A man in his eighties sits on the black sofa in a family room. He's holding a brass-coloured trophy in The form of your Countrywide Lottery emblem
Ray Wragg and wife Barbara been given a Distinctive trophy from lottery organisers for his or her philanthropy

Ray, who turns 87 on New Year's Working day, cracked open a can of Guinness, while Barbara experienced a glass of wine.

The pair sang 'Who wants to certainly be a millionaire' because they known as their a few young children to inform them the news.

"50 percent an hour later on we rang Camelot and we learned we would received £seven.6m that night," Ray states.

The subsequent contact roofer Ray, from Sheffield, would make was to his manager, Dave, the subsequent early morning.

He was on account of be again at Focus on a developing web page in south Wales at 08:00 GMT on the Monday, which would have required the then sixty two-calendar year-outdated to go away residence for your 4-hour generate inside the early hours of the dark Wintertime morning.

When Ray informed him he experienced chose to retire, a surprised Dave responded by asking him tongue-in-cheek, "Have you ever won the lottery?!"

"Very well, Sure I've," was Ray's truthful reply.

Wraggs to riches
"I retired that Saturday night time in certain respects," Ray says, recalling that weekend in January 2000.

"I didn't know very well what to say but I'd never ever have claimed 'things your career' or anything like that. I'm not that sort of human being."

Whilst the development marketplace sooner or later grew to become "tiring" and involved him travelling nearly 1,000 miles each week to all 4 corners of the UK, Ray claims he appreciated function.

But the prospect of retirement for him and for Barbara, who had labored night shifts for the Royal Hallamshire Hospital for 22 yrs, was as well fantastic to skip.

The very first thing Ray did Using the winnings was buy a £52,000 white Array Rover, while the couple also went on the glamorous cruise.

Barbara's dread of traveling experienced Earlier limited them to domestic vacations.

"I feel we went to Torquay for around 20 years within the trot - all five of us," Ray says.

Like most lottery winners, Ray and Barbara took the opportunity to go on some in their winnings to their youngsters together with other kinfolk.

But it had been their generosity to other people outside their family device which would make headlines from the several years that adopted.

They reportedly gave away most in their winnings - earning a rebuke from their economic advisor.


PA A pair dressed in crimson and white Sheffield United shirts keep champagne flutes bearing the National Lottery emblem aloft. A soccer bearing the Sheffield United badge is between their heads.PA
Barbara Wragg experienced worked like a nurse in Sheffield for many years
Barbara, who died of sepsis in 2018 at the age of 77, after publicly reported their winnings had been "an excessive amount for 2 people today".

"We experienced people say 'does one not want to maintain it for yourselves?'" Ray suggests now.

"But we were being inside our sixties (at some time) and we designed quite a bit of men and women content."

Tens of 1000's was offered absent for the hospital where by Barbara had labored, and also towards the community children's medical center.

There was also £12,000 to permit World War Two veterans to return to Monte Cassino in Italy in 2004, 60 decades soon after Allied Forces received an important victory there.

The couple ended up remaining touched by a a number of the correspondence they obtained Later on, which bundled letters from widows of troopers who experienced died over the battlefield.


A person in his eighties sits with a black couch inside of a living room. He's Keeping a black coffee mug. A lampshade is while in the qualifications.
Ray states the lottery modified his and Barbara's lives, although not them as men and women
One more act of philanthropy stands out in Ray's thoughts.

"We picked up the Sheffield Star newspaper 1 night time, plus a young lad of 11 or twelve had saved his dollars up to get a motorbike," he recalls.

"He'd absent into the park and these three lads experienced operate off with it and left him, the very poor lad."

The Wraggs experienced a mountain bike they'd barely applied and so known as up the Star to generate fox888 contact with the boy's spouse and children so they might give it to him.

"You cannot purchase the expression on his confront," Ray claims. "He was leaping up and down for Pleasure and riding up and down, as you'll if you had been a kid."

The couple's charity get the job done gained them a special trophy from Camelot in 2002, in addition to invitations to Buckingham Palace as well as the Satisfaction of Britain awards.

They rubbed shoulders with Richard Branson, Princess Diana's former butler and also the Coronation Avenue Forged, but Ainsley Harriott stands out in Ray's brain as one of several "nicest" superstars the couple fulfilled.


Sheffield United admirer Ray nonetheless goes swimming at his local leisure centre 3 early mornings a week and he continues to be a Bramall Lane normal within the weekends.

He insists he's hardly ever had any hassle from people today considering that that massive win 25 yrs back.

"All they've desired to do whenever they us in the road is rub our shoulder for a little luck and thank us for what we have done for the kids.

"We've had a fantastic time and helped a great deal of people," he smiles.

Ray says he and Barbara remembered their roots and would've remained joyful people today even experienced they not won the lottery.

"I was Doing the job, Barbara was Performing, the children were Doing the job," he claims. "We have been all correct.

"Like other people do, we saved up.

"It modified our life but not us as individuals.

"Which is stood us in great stead. I continue to examine the cost of a set of socks you realize!"

Hear highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Seems, catch up with the newest episode of Glimpse North or tell us a story you think we needs to be covering right here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *