I won £300k National Lottery jackpot – here’s the first thing I did after my big win… and my plans for what comes next
A MAN who won the £300k National Lottery jackpot has revealed the first thing he did after the big win.
John Stembridge, 51, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, scooped the whopping cash prize on the Lotto‘s Set For Life game.
The lucky man bagged £10,000 every month for the next 30 years which he said has changed his life “forever”.
John, who has worked around the clock as a plasterer for more than 20 years, said he was sat in the van covered in dust just before he found out.
He said he spotted the ticket behind the sun visor and at the end of the working day he popped into the local shop to check the numbers.
It wasn’t long until John was reduced to tears after discovering how much he’d won.
After calling Camelot to get it confirmed, John said the first thing he did was quit his plastering job.
He said: “It’s time to give up the trowels! There will be no more days of coming home covered in plaster dust and worrying about money and my family.
“All of our lives are now changed forever.
“It makes me so happy that I can now help and support my family and those closest to me and I literally have no more worries in that respect.”
Speaking about the magic moment he found out about his win, John added: “I was sitting in my van having a coffee after finishing a day of plastering and just noticed the ticket behind the visor – I was close to a shop so just thought I would pop in and get the ticket checked – just in case there was anything on it.
“When the store assistant put it into the machine to check, the machine made a really strange noise – something I had never heard before.
“The assistant then said to me I would need to call the number on the ticket as it was a winning ticket but she couldn’t pay me.
“I just thought I had maybe won £100.”
He continued: “I went back to my van and called Camelot.
“My heart was racing. It was quite surreal – a National Lottery advert came on the radio at that very moment, playing the telephone call of a winner…and literally as this came on the radio my call was answered.
“The lady on the end of the phone said to me, ‘are you sitting down?’ She then confirmed that I had won the top prize.
“I literally burst into tears and I cried my eyes out. I could not believe it!
“To be in the position where I get £10k every month, tax free, is just phenomenal – this National Lottery win has changed everything for me and those closest to me and I still just cannot believe it!”
The keen wildlife photographer is now looking forward to a dust-free life of leisure in the great outdoors.
John says he cannot wait to pursue his lifelong dreams with his two main passions in life – photography and fishing.
In addition to becoming a professional photographer, John also has big plans to open a luxury fishery and build his dream home on the lake.
And while he searches for the perfect location, the almost retired plasterer plans to buy a luxury camper van and go on a fishing adventure across Europe.
Set For Life is an exciting draw-based annuity game from The National Lottery that offers a top prize of £10k a month for 30 years when the five main numbers and the Life Ball are matched.
Players can also win £10k a month for a whole year by matching the five main numbers.