Winning a existence-transforming sum of money is really a desire harboured by a lot of, but what on earth is existence like when that really comes about?

"Ray, We have got a few quantities!"

Sat at home with a Saturday night time, nurse Barbara Wragg had switched about the Television set to find the Nationwide Lottery effects.

Offering a jogging commentary to her spouse Ray, People 3 matching numbers to the couple's ticket quickly turned "four", then "five" and after that astoundingly, the magic "6".

Inside of 50 % an hour, the pair learnt they'd gained the £seven.6m jackpot and existence experienced improved without end.


Recalling that moment Just about 1 / 4 of the century on, Ray remembers: "I said "you happen to be kidding me?!"

"We were being trapped for how to proceed and what to state. We have been just flabbergasted."

A man in his eighties sits on a black couch inside of a living room. He is holding a brass-coloured trophy in The form in the National Lottery symbol
Ray Wragg and spouse Barbara gained a Specific trophy from lottery organisers for their philanthropy

Ray, who turns 87 on New Calendar year's Working day, cracked open a can of Guinness, even though Barbara experienced a glass of wine.

The pair sang 'Who would like to become a millionaire' as they called their 3 kids to tell them the information.

"Half an hour or so later on we rang Camelot and we learned we might received £seven.6m that night time," Ray says.

Another call roofer Ray, from Sheffield, would make was to his manager, Dave, the following early morning.

He was as a result of be again at work on a constructing web site in south Wales at 08:00 GMT to the Monday, which would have necessary the then 62-calendar year-old to leave residence for the 4-hour travel from the early hours of a dark winter early morning.

When Ray instructed him he had decided to retire, a surprised Dave responded by inquiring him tongue-in-cheek, "Have you ever gained the lottery?!"

"Perfectly, Certainly I have," was Ray's sincere reply.

Wraggs to riches
"I retired that Saturday night in a few respects," Ray states, recalling that weekend in January 2000.

"I failed to know what to convey but I might hardly ever have mentioned 'things your career' or nearly anything like that. I'm not that kind of person."

While the construction industry inevitably became "tiring" and involved him travelling nearly one,000 miles every week to all four corners of the UK, Ray states he liked get the job done.

But the prospect of retirement for him and for Barbara, who experienced labored evening shifts with the Royal Hallamshire Hospital for 22 a long time, was way too fantastic to overlook.

The first thing Ray did With all the winnings was purchase a £fifty two,000 white Array Rover, even though the few also went on the glamorous cruise.

Barbara's concern of traveling had Earlier limited them to domestic vacations.

"I think we went to Torquay for approximately 20 years to the trot - all five of us," Ray claims.

Like most lottery winners, Ray and Barbara took the opportunity to move on some in their winnings to their small children along with other family.

But it absolutely was their generosity to other people outside the house their family members unit which would make headlines during the a long time that followed.

They reportedly gave absent most in their winnings - earning a rebuke from their money advisor.


PA A pair dressed in red and white Sheffield United shirts keep champagne flutes bearing the Nationwide Lottery emblem aloft. A football bearing the Sheffield United badge is between their heads.PA
Barbara Wragg had labored to be a nurse in Sheffield for many years
Barbara, who died of sepsis in 2018 for the age of 77, after publicly stated their winnings were being "an excessive amount for two people today".

"We had men and women say 'does one not want to maintain it for yourselves?'" Ray says now.

"But we have been within our sixties (at some time) and we made a whole lot of folks pleased."

Tens of 1000's was presented absent to your hospital in which Barbara had labored, together with on the neighborhood kid's medical center.

There was also £12,000 to permit Earth War Two veterans to return to Monte Cassino in Italy in 2004, sixty several years immediately after Allied Forces received a crucial victory there.

The few had been still left touched by a a few of the correspondence they obtained Later on, which integrated letters from widows of troopers who experienced died about the battlefield.


A person in his eighties sits over a black sofa in the living room. He is holding a black coffee mug. A lampshade is from the qualifications.
Ray claims the lottery adjusted his and Barbara's lives, but not them as individuals
Yet another act of philanthropy stands out in Ray's head.

"We picked up the Sheffield Star newspaper a person night, and also a youthful lad of 11 or twelve had saved his revenue up to acquire a bike," he recollects.

"He'd long gone into your park and these 3 lads had operate off with it and left him, the poor lad."

The Wraggs had a mountain bike they'd scarcely utilized and so termed up the Star for making หวย connection with the boy's loved ones so they may give it to him.

"You cannot purchase the expression on his confront," Ray claims. "He was leaping up and down for joy and riding up and down, as you should in case you were a kid."

The few's charity function gained them a Unique trophy from Camelot in 2002, together with Invites to Buckingham Palace and the Pride of Britain awards.

They rubbed shoulders with Richard Branson, Princess Diana's former butler as well as the Coronation Road cast, but Ainsley Harriott stands out in Ray's thoughts as one of several "nicest" famous people the few met.


Sheffield United fan Ray still goes swimming at his local leisure centre 3 early mornings every week and he remains a Bramall Lane typical at the weekends.

He insists he is never ever had any hassle from individuals considering the fact that that vast win 25 yrs back.

"All they have wished to do whenever they us in the road is rub our shoulder for a bit of luck and thank us for what we've accomplished for the youngsters.

"We've had an amazing time and aided quite a bit of folks," he smiles.

Ray suggests he and Barbara remembered their roots and would've remained happy people even experienced they not received the lottery.

"I used to be Doing work, Barbara was Doing work, the kids were working," he suggests. "We ended up all appropriate.

"Like other households do, we saved up.

"It changed our life but not us as people.

"That's stood us in very good stead. I nevertheless take a look at the price of a set of socks you understand!"

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