Beccles families celebrate People's Postcode Lottery win

A newly married couple and a children's book author are among those who have had a "perfect Christmas present" after 655 people in a Suffolk town scooped a share of a £3.2m lottery prize.

Ten people in Beccles won the lion's share of the money as part of the People's Postcode Lottery win.

Eight of the winners each received a cheque for £133,333 and two, who played with two tickets, won £266,666.

Mum-of-four Zoe Mowday, 35, said it meant "so much to our family".

The newlywed, who with her husband Dan won £133,333, said: "I feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow and think 'did I dream that? That was a dream'.

"This money will make life so much easier. Recently it's been a struggle, as I'm not working at the moment, because I'm looking after the babies, and we've only got one wage coming in.

"That's what has been really sad because the kids had done their list for Santa and our teenager wanted a new phone and our son wanted a Fitbit, and we were trying to look for second-hand and didn't think we'd be able to do it.

"Now we can treat them to what they want."

Mr Mowday said: "We got married in June and we never had a honeymoon after a budget wedding in our local pub."

The couple said they hoped to now be able to go to Italy.

Other winners included retired married couple Glyn and Linda Savage, retired secretary Alice Stanley and her daughter-in-law Mandy Stanley, and dinner lady and mum-of-three Cheryl Lewis.

Children's book author and illustrator Mandy Stanley, 63, said it was a "perfect Christmas present".

"We've had a rough year, but things have definitely just got better," she said.

"My mother-in-law was kind enough to let us stay with her during a house move, hence why I started playing with her postcode.

"It's fate, you never know what lies around the corner."

Meanwhile, Mrs Lewis, 40, described the win as "life-changing".

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