'WE WON THE LOTTERY BUT I EVEN NOW CHECK THE PRICE OF SOCKS'

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

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

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Winning a daily life-switching amount of money is usually a desire harboured by a lot of, but what's lifetime like when that truly comes about?

"Ray, We have got three numbers!"

Sat in your own home with a Saturday night time, nurse Barbara Wragg had switched around the TV to find the Nationwide Lottery final results.

Giving a functioning commentary to her spouse Ray, those 3 matching quantities to the couple's ticket immediately became "4", then "5" and afterwards astoundingly, the magic "6".

Within just half an hour, the pair learnt they'd gained the £seven.6m jackpot and life had adjusted permanently.


Recalling that second Practically 1 / 4 of the century on, Ray remembers: "I claimed "you might be kidding me?!"

"We were trapped for how to proceed and what to convey. We were being just flabbergasted."

A person in his eighties sits over a black sofa within a lounge. He is Keeping a brass-coloured trophy in the shape from the National Lottery brand
Ray Wragg and wife Barbara received a Exclusive trophy from lottery organisers for their philanthropy

Ray, who turns 87 on New Calendar year's Day, cracked open up a can of Guinness, even though Barbara had a glass of wine.

The pair sang 'Who would like to be a millionaire' because they termed their three children to tell them the information.

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

The next get in touch with roofer Ray, from Sheffield, would make was to his boss, Dave, the following morning.

He was on account of be back again at work on a developing website in south Wales at 08:00 GMT around the Monday, which would have needed the then 62-year-aged to go away property for any four-hour travel from the early hrs of a dim winter early morning.

When Ray informed him he experienced decided to retire, a amazed Dave responded by inquiring him tongue-in-cheek, "have you gained the lottery?!"

"Well, Sure I've," was Ray's genuine reply.

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

"I did not know very well what to say but I'd in no way have claimed 'things your task' or just about anything like that. I am not that sort of man or woman."

Whilst the development business sooner or later grew to become "tiring" and included him travelling approximately one,000 miles every week to all four corners of the UK, Ray states he savored function.

But the chance of retirement for him and for Barbara, who had worked night time shifts at the Royal Hallamshire Healthcare facility for 22 many years, was much too great to miss.

The very first thing Ray did with the winnings was buy a £fifty two,000 white Array Rover, even though the couple also went on the glamorous cruise.

Barbara's panic of flying had Earlier limited them to domestic holiday seasons.

"I believe we went to Torquay for around twenty years about the trot - all five of us," Ray claims.

Like most lottery winners, Ray and Barbara took the chance to go on some in their winnings for their little ones and also other relatives.

But it was their generosity to other people outdoors their spouse and children device which would make headlines within the several years that followed.

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


PA A few wearing pink and white Sheffield United shirts keep champagne flutes bearing the Countrywide Lottery logo aloft. A soccer bearing the Sheffield United badge is in between their heads.PA
Barbara Wragg had labored like a nurse in Sheffield for many years
Barbara, who died of sepsis in 2018 with the age of 77, at the time publicly claimed their winnings had been "too much for two individuals".

"We had people today say 'does one not want to keep it for yourselves?'" Ray suggests now.

"But we were within our sixties (at some time) and we created quite a bit of folks content."

Tens of hundreds was offered away into the healthcare facility where by Barbara experienced worked, together with to the nearby kid's medical center.

There was also £12,000 to permit Entire world War Two veterans to return to Monte Cassino in Italy in 2004, 60 years after Allied Forces received a vital victory there.

The pair ended up left touched by a some of the correspondence they acquired Later on, which included letters from widows of soldiers who had died about the battlefield.


A man in his eighties sits on a black sofa inside a lounge. He's Keeping a black espresso mug. A lampshade is from the history.
Ray claims the lottery adjusted his and Barbara's life, but not them as individuals
An additional act of philanthropy stands out in Ray's mind.

"We picked up the Sheffield Star newspaper a person evening, as well as a youthful lad of 11 or twelve experienced saved his income up to purchase a motorcycle," he recalls.

"He'd absent into your park and these 3 lads experienced operate off with it and left him, the very poor lad."

The Wraggs experienced a mountain bicycle they'd barely made use of and so referred to as up the Star to help make ตรวจ หวย ลาว วัน นี้ contact with the boy's family members so they might give it to him.

"You can not buy the expression on his facial area," Ray says. "He was jumping up and down for Pleasure and Driving up and down, as you'd when you were a kid."

The couple's charity operate acquired them a Distinctive trophy from Camelot in 2002, along with invitations to Buckingham Palace along with the Delight of Britain awards.

They rubbed shoulders with Richard Branson, Princess Diana's previous butler plus the Coronation Road Solid, but Ainsley Harriott stands out in Ray's brain as among the list of "nicest" famous people the few satisfied.


Sheffield United fan Ray still goes swimming at his area leisure centre 3 early mornings per week and he continues to be a Bramall Lane standard in the weekends.

He insists he is in no way experienced any bother from people today due to the fact that huge acquire twenty five many years in the past.

"All they have wanted to do when they us in the street is rub our shoulder for a certain amount of luck and thank us for what we've completed for the children.

"We've had an excellent time and served a lot of people," he smiles.

Ray says he and Barbara remembered their roots and would have remained pleased individuals even had they not received the lottery.

"I used to be Performing, Barbara was Performing, the children had been Operating," he claims. "We had been all right.

"Like other family members do, we saved up.

"It modified our life but not us as people.

"That's stood us in fantastic stead. I nevertheless look at the price of a set of socks you realize!"

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