Festival loving Sharin McCourt (42) from Derry celebrated with her best friend, also called Sharon, after she scooped a life-changing £250,000 on a National Lottery scratchcard. .
A FESTIVAL loving lady from Derry has scooped a life-changing £250,000 on a National Lottery scratchcard.
Sharin McCourt (42) had no idea her life was about to change for the better when she popped to her local Mace store to buy groceries for dinner and picked up two £250,000 Blue & Green Scratchcards, from National Lottery GameStore, while at the till.
Sharin, explained: “I wanted to make a nice meal for myself and my best friend, also called Sharon, so we went down to the shop to buy some bits and pieces.
“When I went to pay for my items I had a bit of money left over so I decided to buy two scratchcards, on a whim. Then we just headed home and I started to prepare dinner.”
After unpacking her food Sharin remembered about the scratchcards and decided she would scratch them.
“The first one wasn’t a winner,” she said. “But the second one, well that revealed three amounts of £250,000! My reaction was total disbelief. I didn’t shout or cheer I just had a look of total bewilderment on my face.
“Even now I find it hard to comprehend. I asked my friend to check it and after her initial amazed reaction she confirmed I was right and it was a winner.”
Even though her friend confirmed that she had won, Sharin still wasn’t convinced.
She added: “When I look back now I think I was in complete shock. I decided that I’d take the scratchcard to the shop where I bought it and see if they could confirm it and to my amazement they too said it was genuine.
“By this point it had started to sink in so when I called the National Lottery claim line and they also said it was real, I knew I’d finally won!.”
So what is Sharin planning to spend her winnings on?
Said Sharin: “To be honest, I lead a simple life so I don’t have any big plans yet. However, I’m an avid festival goer so it’ll be VIP all the way to my favourite festivals this year.
“I also plan to buy my life-long friend, Sharon, a new car as the one we travel to the festivals in has had more hits than Abba! I’ll also get us some brand new wellington boots to keep our feet dry!”
Sharin’s winning £250,000 Blue & Green Scratchcard was bought at the Mace Store, Culmore Road, Derry.
The Blue & Green Scratchcard offers a 1 in 4.15 overall chance of winning. The card costs £2 and prizes range from £2 up to the top prize of £250,000.
GameStore is the new home of scratchcards and online Instant Win Games from The National Lottery, offering players many different and exciting ways to play and win life changing prizes.
In Sharin’s own back yard of Derry Naonal Lottery funding has helped:
- The Big Lottery Fund provide a £400,000 grant to help build a legacy for the first UK City of Culture for communities in County Derry/Londonderry. The fund was used to provide grants for community arts and culture projects across County Derry/Londonderry.
- First Housing Aid and Support Services in Londonderry received £5,005 towards creative workshops for its service-users at the Shepherd’s View Young Parents’ Project in the Waterside.
