Dinner ladies win lottery jackpot

Sep 16, 2004, 7:49 am (1 comment)

UK National Lottery

A dinner lady today told how she was on holiday thousands of miles away in Australia unaware that she and 11 colleagues had scooped more than £2.3 million on the UK National Lottery.

Doris Tiff, 61, was attending her nephews wedding in Brisbane when her pools six winning Lotto numbers came up in the September 4 draw.

Her absence prompted frantic, long-distance phone calls and e-mails from her fellow cooks in Exhall, Coventry, with Mrs Tiff only finding out about the win two days later.

Today, the 12 women who have between six and 28 years service at Exhall Grange School and Science College picked up their cheque for £2,353,332.

The win means each shared a healthy £196,000 of the jackpot.

Mrs Tiff, who revealed she has modest plans to spend some of the cash on a new upstairs toilet at her home in Exhall, said she and her husband, Brian, 65, were dumbstruck when they found out.

She said: We went out and got some booze and had a good drink.

I had gone to Australia for my nephews wedding and was finishing the holiday off by visiting, bizarrely enough, the Gold Coast with my sister Sheila.

I got a call from my daughter Sharon who said everyone had been trying to contact me and that she had some news.

When she told me we had won the jackpot I was absolutely flabbergasted and I thought she was having me on.

In my heart I knew she was serious, though. Its fabulous news and such a lovely welcome home present.

The dinner ladies, who toasted their win with champagne before heading back to the kitchens, said they do not have extravagant plans to spend their windfall.

Three, including Mrs Tiff, are retiring but the remainder are continuing in their jobs at the school, which caters for about 150 children with visual impairments, physical disabilities and complex special educational needs.

One of the women wants a new bed, another a Christmas cruise and for Sandra Berry, a new cooker tops the list.

Mrs Berry, 62, of Exhall, said: I enjoy cooking and we have family get-togethers. My cooker is just not big enough.

PA News

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CASH Only

How about breakfast ladies?

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