Electrician credits his late gran for £150,000 lottery win – more than a decade after her own £6,500 prize persuaded him to start playing

An electrician has credited his late grandmother for a £150,000 lottery win – more than a decade after her own lucky scoop persuaded him to start playing.

Garry Mann, 31, from Thurso in Caithness, collected the £6,500 prize his beloved nan Jean Cormack bagged with People’s Postcode Lottery in April 2010 – an experience that inspired him to take part himself.

Sadly, the 77-year-old was not around to share his new joy as she died earlier this month after going into hospital for an operation.

The heartache came just two years after Mr Mann’s father, Walter – a fellow electrician – was found dead on a North Sea rig aged just 48.

Mr Mann said today: ‘I definitely think my nan and my dad have had something to do with this. I believe something has been done up there.

‘Nan was doing People’s Postcode Lottery and she won £6,500. It’s one of the reasons I started playing. My grandad died and then my nan won a month after that. Now my nan has just died and I’m winning a month after too.’

He added: ‘It’s about time the sun was shining on us.’

The father of two is celebrating with 10 other neighbours in Thurso – the most northerly town in mainland Great Britain – after their KW14 7DU postcode won People’s Postcode Lottery’s final Summer’s On Us prize.

Every ticket was worth £150,000, but one neighbour scooped £450,000 with three tickets – meaning the close-knit street shared a total jackpot of £1.95million.

Thurso is a bustling community known for its traditional shops, cafes and restaurants – while also being one of the top destinations for watersports in the UK.

And it seems the town has something of a lucky streak, with its latest lottery win coming almost exactly 14 years after residents – including Garry’s grandmother – shared a bumper £2.1million prize pot.

Mr Mann said the latest bonanza will accelerate plans for him, his school kitchen assistant wife Christina, 35, and their two young children to start a new life in Spain.

The self-employed tradesman – who collected his gran’s cheque for her at a presentation in local park ‘The Dammies’ more than a decade ago – said: ‘I’ve been awake since 3.30am. I’m speechless. This will take a few days to process.

‘We’ve been thinking about moving away. We’ve been planning on going to Spain for a couple of years now. We’d like to live just outside Alicante. This is genuinely life-changing for us.

‘It’s more of a reality for us now. There are a lot more visa options and we are in the process of speaking to a lot of different people. We can just start the process properly now.

‘I’ve found lots of houses we like. I’ve been looking for the last few years. We were meant to move years ago when I was a child. But my dad ended up with cancer and it fell through.

‘I’ve probably got it spent ten times in my head already, so I’ll not be touching it.’

Christina said: ‘I don’t know how I feel. It’s amazing. We do have a few plans for the future.’

Moira Dearness, who lives directly opposite Garry and Christina, won £3,000 in 2010, then bought two more tickets – and has now pocketed £450,000.

The 87-year-old retired lecturer said: ‘My goodness, this is more money than I’ve ever had in my life.’

Now the widowed mother-of-two, formerly of Durban on the east coast of South Africa, wants to carry out home improvements in her semi.

She said: ‘I will have to think about how I’m going to spend it. The house needs work done and I need work done. I thought it might be around £50,000 to £90,000, but this hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I never ever imagined it would be that much.

‘I’ll get repairs done to the house and things like new carpets. I grew up when we had this very cautious way of how to spend money, so I won’t go mad.

‘If my legs weren’t so bad, I’d be going on a cruise round the world. For once I am lost for words.’

Her distillery worker daughter Susan, 58, said: ‘Mum is never short of something to say. This is amazing, well deserved.

‘All I’m thinking about is all the things we want to do to make the house easier for mum to get around. We’ll do that now.’

Diagonally opposite, her friend Catriona Manson told how she signed up to the draw after her late mother-in-law Helen won £3,000 in the town’s previous windfall. 

The 53-year-old said: ‘This is amazing…crazy. I started playing after my mother-in-law won it on this street. I thought we would try it, but I never thought it would happen to us.

‘My mother-in-law used it to pay for a new hip and it improved her life. Usually it doesn’t come back, but it has. Thank you! I don’t have words. I’m speechless.’

Now the freelance bookkeeper, her wood processor husband Donald, 62, and son Kyle, 19, have big plans for the cash.

She wants to upgrade her Peugeot 308, her son wants a trip to Italy and her hubby fancies a Scandinavian cruise.

She said: ‘I need a new car and my son would like to go to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Donald and I would like a cruise – Norway, Finland, Sweden…that sort of way.’

She added: ‘It’s lovely to share it with our neighbours. It’s nice that we’ve all got this money and nice that we can do something special in our own ways, and maybe together as well.

‘We’ll have a wee party and celebration…all of us in the street. During lockdown we all got together and held bingo sessions in the street and things like that.’

And, like her next-door neighbours, she reckons there may have been a bit of divine intervention with her win.

She said: ‘Donald’s mum has since passed away, and I lost my mum two years ago. This will be them saying ”there you go!”

David Mackenzie will use his £150,000 in his hunt for another vintage tractor – and treat his model-making wife to a Star Wars Lego set.

The retiree, 68, who helps out on a local farm, won best in show a few weeks ago with his 48-year-old John Brown tractor.

Now he wants to add to his collection by tracking down a Ford model, between 40 and 60 years old.

The grandfather said: ‘I feel great about winning – fantastic, unbelievable. I’ve got a vintage tractor already, but I might look for another one.’

His wife Zoe, 54, wants to add to her Star Wars Lego models with an AT-AT and Chewbacca.

She said: ‘I’m going to buy some more Star Wars Lego that I’ve been collecting and building. It’s very therapeutic. I’d really like the AT-AT, I love that one. It’s very expensive, but now I can get it.’

Her cheeky husband winked: ‘It’ll depend on the price!’

While many lottery winners treat themselves to something big, like a new car, mother-of-four Elsie Johnstone has a rather more modest ambition – buying a new vacuum cleaner!

The 80-year-old pocketed around £4,000 14 years ago.

Describing her cheque for £150,000, she said: ‘I think it is an obscene amount of money. I thought £10,000 would have been nice.

‘I’m going to be needing a new vacuum, so I won’t be saving up for that anymore.’

The musical theatre fan might also treat herself to a production of the one show she has never seen – Sunset Boulevard – if she can catch it in London’s west end.

She said: ‘I like any kind of theatre, but I love musical theatre. I’ve been singing all my life, even before I was talking.

‘I’ve not seen anything in London. I’ve been, but I’ve never seen a show. I haven’t seen Sunset Boulevard, so that could maybe be a thing.’

The grandmother-of-six now plans to help her family – just as she did after the last time she won.

She said: ‘It was lovely to win that last time. The grandchildren were young then so they all got some money each.

‘I’ll help family this time if they let me. They’ve been very good to me. It’s time to give a wee bit back.’

Stunned couple James and Fiona Campbell won £150,000 each – after signing up following son Andrew’s £15,000 win in 2010.

Mother-of-three Mrs Campbell, 68, said: ‘When he won, he was shell-shocked. He was blown away by it all. We thought ‘why not give it a go’ and bought a ticket each. We always knew there was a chance. It’s been worth the wait.

‘We’re both shocked. It’s just a case of wow, we didn’t expect to see this.

Her retired carpenter husband, 78, said: ‘We discussed it at length and thought we were probably looking at a minimal amount. We guessed maybe £1,500 each.

He added: ‘We’re very content. This is a plus, an extra.’

Restaurant boss Mohammad Khan, 47, was urged to play the lottery by a friend – and has now bagged £150,000 just seven months later.

The father-of-one said: ‘This is unbelievable. Thank you very, very much. I’m very pleased that lots of people have lots of money. We have very good neighbours. It’s a very good community.

Mr Khan said he and wife Khaleda Ferdous, 29, may now donate money to orphans in his native Bangladesh.

He plans to fly home to visit his elderly mum Saleha Begum, 90, who is ill in hospital after suffering a stroke.

And the couple have also been making moves to buy their rented home.

He said: ‘I will send some money to Bangladesh and try to buy our house. The rest will be for my family.’

Great-grandmother Thelma Smith, 79, landed £150,000 just a few years after winning £78,000 in another competition.

She said: ‘This feels just magic. I don’t know what I’m going to do with this. I used to go quite a lot to Cyprus and Tenerife, so a nice holiday maybe. I’ve also got lots of grandkids and great grandkids.

‘I couldn’t believe it when I got the phone call about this. I said, ‘oh no, I’m winning again!’ I needed to sit down because I thought I’d won a decent amount.’

She added: ‘I started playing shortly after the big win up here and have been playing ever since.’

Youngest daughter Donna Falconer, 48, said: ‘She’ll probably treat herself once all this settles in. I’m just so happy for her. She deserves it. She’s nice to everyone.’