‘It has been life-changing but we don’t intend to change the way we live’ … Emma and Phil Wildin celebrate their win.
I’m a stay-at-home mum with two children: Oscar, aged four, and Darcie, who is nearly two. I’m 30, and really my life before 31 July was just lots of mum things – baby groups and so on. That was as exciting as it got. Scratchcards were my little treat. I’d buy a couple in the morning, two or three times a week, just whichever random one was in the shop at the time. The biggest win I’d had was £100.
That Wednesday morning, at about 8.30am, I got home [in Cinderford, Gloucestershire] with the scratchcard and went out into the garden, just to have five minutes to myself. I always scratch off the winning panel before I scratch off the prize, so I immediately saw I’d won something. Then of course I scratched off the prize panel and saw, “MILL”. This became “MILLION”.
I just threw everything on to the floor (apart from the scratchcard) and ran into the house screaming and jumping up and down. I was shouting: “We’ve won a million pounds!” Oscar was going: “Mummy, we’ve won a million pounds!” Darcie was just looking at me strangely.
My husband had just popped out, so I rang him. “Phil, I think I’ve won a million pounds. You need to come home now!” “Erm, yes, it looks like you’ve won,” he said when he got back, “but I wouldn’t think anything of it. It’s probably not right.” For 30 minutes, I was just pacing up and down the kitchen waiting for the Camelot helpline to open. I had to give them the serial number, and then the woman paused. I heard her typing in the numbers again, and I thought: “Oh, it’s wrong. I’ve read it wrong. I’m going to look like such a fool.” Then she said, “Congratulations. You’ve won a million pounds.” The money was in my account two days later.
Me and my husband made a decision that we would set aside £100,000 to blow. I bought a Range Rover, and gave a little bit to my mum and a little bit to my dad. I had laser eye surgery, and we went shopping for three days. We’re booked to go to Disneyland in the new year.
The other £900,000 is to invest. We’ve been able to buy two small houses to rent out, so that gives me a monthly income and a bit more confidence. It’s not great when you have to say to your husband, “Can I have some money? Can I have some money?” Our dream has always been to build our own house, but really we’re just happy to be able to give the kids a nice life until they’re old enough to go out and make their own.
It has been life-changing, but we don’t intend to change the way we live. Phil hasn’t been able to retire or anything. I didn’t want to publicise my win, but somebody told the local paper, and after that I’d go down to the shops and people would say congratulations. The general feeling has been nice, but you do get the odd negative comment. We had debts before, with a car on finance, but we weren’t deprived, so you hear of people who think: “Oh, they don’t need the money,” which is understandable.
Sometimes I’ll be walking down the street and I’ll be thinking, “Is everybody looking at me?” That’s really weird. Lots of people have said, “Since you’ve won, I buy scratchcards now!” I feel a bit responsible for them gambling. I have also had people in my life who maybe thought they were going to get something, but didn’t. It is difficult, because you have to draw a line somewhere, and it probably has harmed some of my relationships. To your face they don’t really act any differently, but I’m sure behind your back they do. It’s something you can only guess at.
A neighbour asked me the other day: “When you go food shopping, do you just chuck it all in your trolley?” But no, I don’t. I still have a weekly shopping budget, and I still shop in the Co-op where I bought the scratchcard. (Although now they have a poster on the door saying: “Million-pound scratchcard sold here!”)
Essentially, though, I’m still the same person, and it still feels like a shock at times. Every so often, I’ll say: “Phil, can you believe we won a million pounds?” He would like to buy an Aston Martin, but he has to wait. I have spoiled him for Christmas though. He’s got 23 presents. I told him not to expect that next year.
