An 81-year-old male voice choir member is celebrating after winning a life-changing £1,000,000 on the EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker in the draw on Friday 15 December.
Rugby fan Arthur Griffiths from North Cornelly in Bridgend will treat himself to a debenture ticket at his beloved Principality Stadium, where he has sung on the pitch several times with 80-strong Kenfig Hill and District Male Voice Choir.
Arthur, who has been celebrating with partner of a year Lorraine Rimmer and their families, can’t believe his luck and will also splash out on revamping the home where he has lived for the last 40 years.
Arthur was drinking his usual 6.30am cup of coffee the Saturday before last, when he checked his Lucky Dip numbers and crucial winning raffle number against those on the television. He says he couldn’t believe his luck and headed straight to his local store where he bought the ticket – One Stop in North Cornelly – to have it double checked. He then phoned Lorraine, 63, who works at their local motel, The Green Acre, and has been on cloud nine ever since.
“Everyone is thrilled for us,” says former steelworker Arthur. “It still hasn’t really sunk in. I suppose I am a lucky person.
“We didn’t change our Christmas plans – not at all. We are determined to keep our feet on the ground. We may buy the better of the two three-piece suites we had our eye on before Christmas!
“I won’t move – we are in a great spot here and while we love to travel, you can travel anywhere from here very easily, we are so close to the motorway.”
Arthur slept with his winning ticket under his pillow, until he could call Camelot to confirm his win and says, “My friend Mike and I also play the regular National Lottery together, but never EuroMillions – that may change now! I simply can’t believe my luck – I popped to the shop for a pint of milk and came away with a million pounds, which is just incredible.”
The National Lottery changes the lives of winners like Arthur as well as communities across the UK – players raise, on average, over £30m for National Lottery-funded projects every week. In Arthur’s native Bridgend postcode area alone there have been nearly 1678 grants made to date, totalling £44,588,215 and funding projects across the arts, sports, heritage, health, education, environment, charity and voluntary sectors. These include
Mynydd Cynffig Women’s Institute, which received £3,090 in the summer and Western Beacons Mountain Search and Rescue Team, which received £44,100 earlier this year.
*Photo credit: Huw John
