Lottery winner from Suffolk speaks of impact of £1m payout

What would you do with £1m? And how life-changing would it be? Karen Dakin, who won that amount on the National Lottery, says the cash has finally given her family "a future".

Karen Dakin was having a normal Saturday night, relaxing in front of the TV with her husband Jeff, her son on his Xbox upstairs, when her numbers came up.

"I was in shock, real shock - I couldn't believe it, really," she says.

Mrs Dakin, 54, of Nacton, near Ipswich, had been using the same lottery numbers for 14 years, all based on her son's birthday, before striking it lucky on 13 March.

"You keep checking the numbers, and then you sleep with the lottery ticket under your pillow!" she says.

But she knew exactly how she wanted to spend the £1m.

"Our main priority was to buy a house and we wanted to make sure our son was looked after and had a future," she says.

In September the family moved into a five-bedroom, detached property in east Ipswich.

Owning their own place was "a dream come true" after living in privately rented accommodation for 24 years.

"We obviously wanted to keep some money aside, so we didn't want to go too crazy: no swimming pool or anything like that," she laughs.

"There's so much more space. We're going to get new furniture, which we've never been able to afford to do, so when we finish it will be our special home."

The last few years have been particularly challenging for her family, says Mrs Dakin, who used to work as a school dinner lady.

Five years ago her husband Jeff, now 60, had a "massive stroke" and almost died.

"Because of what happened with my husband, we were always struggling with money," she says.

"We were living hand-to-mouth. It was very much a struggle.

"Winning takes a weight off your shoulders. You haven't got to scrimp and save the whole while."

When she won the lottery, Mrs Dakin said was going to carry on working at the job she loved.

"But I had to give my job up. I said I wasn't going to but then in the end I had to," she says.

"We moved and I don't drive and I couldn't get there. It would have been too much to get all the buses.

"It was with a real heavy heart that I gave my job up."

But Mrs Dakin says she plans to return to some sort of work in the future.

Mr Dakin, meanwhile, has gone part-time at Ipswich Hospital, where he works in the stores.

So has the money changed them?

"It hasn't really. People say I haven't changed; we've not gone all posh and that," she says.

"I still shop around for bargains and you know, we're careful, very careful, because obviously, like I say, the money is for the future [for her son].

"I will never change and my family and close friends will always mean the world to me."

She says the reaction from others to her win was "mostly happy".

"I'm not on social media and I know there were some nasty comments on there," she says.

"But my family are pleased for me, most of my close friends are pleased for me, the school was pleased for me, too," she says.

She agreed £1m does not go very far these days - "not if you buy property" - but feels lucky to have been able to do so.

The family have not had a holiday, as the Covid restrictions had made that difficult, and have no plans to rush off to the Caribbean.

But she is looking forward to Christmas.

"Christmas will only be us but we are really looking forward to it this year; to be able to go that bit further, spoil ourselves a bit more - you know, not have to stick to a budget," she says.

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