£250,000 Lottery winner: Money won’t make me posh (From The Northern Echo)

£250,000 Lottery winner: Money won’t make me posh

9:02am Saturday 3rd July 2010 in News By Chris Fay, Reporter (Sedgefield)

A COUPLE who won £250,000 on a National Lottery scratchcard have celebrated by buying a new caravan.

Christine and Ian Bladen collected their winnings on Wednesday and spent almost £50,000 before they got back to their County Durham home.

However, apart from the caravan and a new 4x4 to tow it with, the couple say the money will hardly change them.

Mrs Bladen, 54, said they would not move from their terraced council house in Beech Avenue, Chilton. She said: “This is not going to make me posh or anything else. I couldn’t be posh if I tried, and I wouldn’t want to.”

Mr Bladen, 45, said: “It has not really sunk in yet, but the win was perfect timing as we wanted to buy ourselves a new car and caravan as our old one was getting a bit old.”

Mrs Bladen had gone to buy milk from the Sainsbury’s shop in Durham Road, Chilton, when she bought the Deal or No Deal scratchcard.

She said: “I usually buy one or two scratchcards when I go to the shop and I absolutely love the TV programme so I thought I’d have one.

“When I realised I had won, I phoned Ian up and told him to get the front door open and put the kettle on because we’d just won £250,000.”

Mr Bladen said: “I told her to give her head a shake – I thought it must have been a wind up.”

The win was confirmed by Lottery officials and the couple went to Liverpool in their old Mazda, but Mr Bladen, a steel worker for Astrum, in Stanhope, County Durham, has not missed a shift.

He said: “I was unemployed for two years until February, when I got the job, but I am going to carry on working – nothing will stop me.”

The couple have four grown-up children from previous relationships and live with their children, Jack, 12, and Dannielle, 11.

Mrs Bladen said: “We cannot believe it has happened to us really – we are just an ordinary couple and we do love our caravaning holidays.”