Grandparents Have Cup Of Tea And Go To Bed After Winning £115m Lottery

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What would you do if you won the lottery? Would you go out partying straight after finding out the news? Quit your job? Book a holiday immediately?

For 52-year-old Frances and 54-year-old Patrick Connolly, from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, this question became a reality on New Year’s Day when they scooped an astonishing £115 million EuroMillions jackpot to bring in 2019.

And what did they do after finding out the news? Have a cup of tea and go to bed of course!

To be honest that’s exactly what I’d have done too, and I’m 24.

The lucky couple, who have been together for 30 years, had bought a Lucky Dip online not expecting to win even a penny.

So they were pretty shocked when after checking their numbers on several websites they realised they’d won the huge jackpot.

Unsure how to react and whether to believe what they were reading, the Connollys enjoyed a cup of tea and shared a hug before ringing Camelot the next day to verify the news.

As reported by the Mirror, at a press conference today (January 4) Patrick recalled the night they found out they had won life-changing money.

After checking online their numbers had come up, Patrick told his wife, ‘We’ve won.’

Frances, who was in the same room watching TV, asked how much. Patrick replied, ‘No, we’ve won.’

He said:

We really didn’t know what to do or how to react and we didn’t sleep a wink that night.

We rang Camelot at 8am in the morning to verify the win. Then it started to dawn on us that it was true even though it still hasn’t really sunk in.

Frances added:

We don’t really do excited – perhaps I raised my voice just a bit at the time when I found out – but we celebrated with a cup of tea and a hug.

Regular Lotto players, the couple matched five numbers in the EuroMillions draw (01, 08, 11, 25, 28) as well as the two Lucky Stars (04 and 06).

While the pair hoped to win the lottery one day, they admitted that never in their ‘wildest dreams’ did they imagine they would win so much money.

When asked what they plan to do with the money, the Connollys said a shopping spree isn’t their top priority.

Instead they wrote a list of more than 50 people they would like to share their fortune with, all of whom haven’t been told yet.

Frances explained why the couple have decided to share their winnings saying:

This is a massive sum of money and we want it to have a huge impact on the lives of other people we know and love as well as on our future too.

This win gives us the chance to really make a difference for our family and friends.

The pair are going to treat themselves though as well with Frances adding she would love to buy a second-hand Jaguar with Patrick saying he wants to shower his wife with gifts. A holiday to Mauritus, some trips to watch rugby matches and an F1 Grand Prix could be on the cards.

Since finding out about the win, Patrick now plans to retire while Frances wants to continue with studying for her PhD in Clinical Psychology.

Congratulations!

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