Midland millionaires reveal how lottery wins changed their lives
MIDLAND millionaires came together at a special reception to discuss how the National Lottery changed their lives.
In the suitably opulent surroundings of Weston Park, on the Staffordshire-Shropshire border, local Lotto winners marked the 15th anniversary of the game, which has become a UK institution.
Tom and Rita Naylor, aged 54 and 52, were the biggest winners present, having scooped £15 million in November 2001.
The couple have since moved out of their three-bedroom semi in Wednesbury into a converted barn in leafy Wheaton Aston, and Tom, who arrived in a Rolls Royce, has indulged his passion for cars.
Tom, who gave up his job as a lorry driver for Arena Cable Trunking in West Bromwich shortly after the win, said: “I always said when I won the Lottery I would buy myself a car for every day of the week, and that’s what I have done.
“I always knew I would win the Lottery, from the first time I played it. Now I want to be the first person to win the jackpot twice, and I firmly believe I am going to do it.”
He said he and Rita, who gave up her job with leather company Daines and Hathaway in Walsall the month following the win, had indulged brothers, sisters and aunts but had no children to support.
Rita, who admitted she was reluctant to give up her job, said: “Tom said to me really it wasn’t fair that I was taking a job that someone needed more than me, and that swung it for me in the end.”
The pair have enjoyed holidays in Dubai, St Lucia and Las Vegas as well as a Caribbean cruise from out of their winnings.
Tom said friends still treated them the same as they always used to, and added: “We always take advice from our solicitor before spending a lot of money. We have always kept our feet on the ground.”
Lifelong mates, bricklayers John Radford and Alf Cole, of Kingswinford, won £5.4 million. Alf, 66, moved into a four-bedroom detached house in Wollaston with wife Val, but within view of the former council home that they shared with son Nicholas, now 31.
John, 65, remained in the three-bedroom bungalow that he shares with wife Margaret and 35-year-old daughter Lisa. He admitted to the extravagance of winter flights to Barbados, Fiji, Hawaii, Australia and Singapore and the purchase of a Range Rover.
“Most of our friends are the same towards us as they always were,” he said.
Alf, who does not drive, said: “If I lost my bus pass it would be like losing my right arm.”
Retired hospital telephonist Brenda Portch, 70, of Wordsley, scooped £1.4 million three years ago. The divorcee said she had made sure to provide for her children Steven, Lisa and Robert, and for her nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Halesowen couple Keith and Cindy Williams, aged 63 and 59, won £190,000 as part of a £1.9 syndicate at the residential home where Cindy works. “It hasn’t changed us a great deal,” said Cindy. “We are still normal, down-to-earth people.”
