British lottery winners: £148 million will buy 'normality and a family life'

[Bangyai]

A British couple who scooped more than £148 million in the lottery said they will use the money to improve their family life after barely seeing each other for years because of shift-work.

ByRichard Alleyne, Victoria Ward and Auslan Cramb

1:45PM BST 14 Aug 2012


Adrian Bayford, 41, a shop owner and his health care worker wife Gillian, 40, said making ends meet involved working so hard they were "like ships in the night" only seeing their children and each other for a few hours a day.

But their new found fortune – the second biggest jackpot ever – now means that they will be able to see a lot more of each other – and will not have to work unsociable shifts.

The couple from Haverhill in Suffolk, who have two children Cameron, four, and Amy, six, said they were very grounded and felt that the vast fortune would not change them.

(Geoff Pugh)

Mr Bayford said he will soon be back behind the counter of his second hand music shop and she vowed to continue "hitting the sales".

They also plan to share their good fortune with a small but close group of family and friends so that they do not run the risk of being ostracised by their riches.

Speaking at a press conference to reveal their great fortune they admitted that the win was both "exciting" and "frightening".
"When you get that amount of money and you have never had it, it is something you have to think about," said Mrs Bayford, who plans to give up her job in the children's ward of Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridgeshire.
Gillian and Adrian Bayford from Haverhill, Suffolk (Sean Dempsey/PA)
Mrs Bayford said she wanted to spend more time at home, saying her frequent night shifts and her husband's work at the shop during the day meant they were often "ships in the night", seeing each other for an hour each evening.
"To support the family I have to do quite a lot of shift work and I love my job, but the opportunity has arisen now that hopefully I can give up work and give some time to my family, have some time for my husband and children," she said.
Mr Bayford, who bought the winning ticket at a shop over the road from their house using Lucky Dip numbers, said they bought it because they needed the money a win would generate.
"Everyone is struggling in this recession," Mrs Bayford said.
"This month had been an extremely tight month, to be honest.
"We had gone shopping the other day and I had spent some money on the children for some holiday clothes and I actually got home that night and thought 'hmmm, I really shouldn't have spent that' because I'm a bit short this month, my night shifts hadn't been as many as I previously had in other months.
"We were struggling to get to pay day and, yes, I have already bought another one (EuroMillions ticket) and I posted it up to my mum."
She said that they had decided to go public because you cannot give money away and expect people to be quiet about it.
The couple plan to buy a new home with a nice kitchen complete with mod cons and she would like to buy an Audi four-by-four car.
Mr Bayford said he would like to take the children to Disney World and then expand his business.
"This money has come at the right time for us and is going to benefit the whole family," he said.
"The win is not just for us, it is for us to share and everyone’s life is going to be so much more enjoyable and stress-free.”
The couple plan to take time to consider how else they will use the money to help others.
Mrs Bayford said: “Children’s charities are close to our hearts so we will be exploring how we can use this money to help those charities but it is too soon to say exactly what.”
The Bayfords are the seventh big EuroMillions jackpot winners from the UK this year, according to Camelot.
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, they now have a fortune to rival Jamie and Jools Oliver (£150 million), Sir Tom Jones (£140 million) and Eric Clapton (£130 million).
Their £148 million win places them 516th in Britain's Rich List.
Mrs Bayford's uncle Clarke Linton, who owns the Burntisland Sands Hotel in Fife, said the whole family was delighted for her, adding: "It is a fine reward for a hard working couple."
He said he had spoken to his sister Brenda, Mrs Bayford's mother, about the win but not to his niece and added that the scale of the jackpot had made family life "a bit chaotic" yesterday.
Mrs Bayford, who was born in Kirkcaldy, attended Harris Academy in Dundee and studied at the city's University of Abertay. Her parents Ian and Brenda live in Carnoustie where they formerly ran a blinds company.
Mr Bayford texted his business partner, Richard Hudspith, at 6.45am on Saturday to say that "something had cropped up" and that he would not be turning up for work that day.
Mr Hudspith said he assumed his friend wanted to spend the day with his children but at 3.30pm, Mr Bayford called him and said, "Shut the shop, Gillian and I are coming to pick you up. I've got some news for you and it's going to change a lot of things."
"We went back to my house and they told me but I didn't believe him at first," he said. "He had to get the ticket out.
"We spoke about expanding the business. I wouldn't blame him if he didn't come back into the shop but Adrian doesn't like sitting around doing nothing."
Mr Hudspith said business had been tough recently but that they had decided to focus on customer service and the local community as they competed with online services.
My Bayford, who has worked as a postman and at a Cambridge food court as he struggled to make ends meet, started his business as a market stall trader selling vinyl before setting up the shop.
He is understood to be taking his family on holiday in Europe later this week.

British lottery winners: £148 million will buy 'normality and a family life' - Telegraph

[Bangyai]

Nice couple .

I was just trying to imagine what I would do if I had that amount of wedge. Even if I gave 1,000,000 to every living relative in Thailand and England I'd still have about 120,000,000 left to share with other TD members. What a lot of wedge that is .

[taxexile]

great news, good luck to the bastards.

[Thetyim]

He is understood to be taking his family on holiday in Europe later this week.

He should come to Thailand alone and lose it all

[nigelandjan]

They are so gonna regret having their 15 mins of fame.

What an ill thought out moment. Crazy to the extreme IMHO .


If you win an amount like that keep stum for as long as poss ,, think about it .

Yup they seem like a lovely couple , but will get hounded out their home town , Haverhill is one of the worst places in Suffolk to live, full of unemployment and rejects sent out of the sink estates in London

Good luck to em , they're gonna need it from now on

[VocalNeal]

They are so gonna regret having their 15 mins of fame.

What an ill thought out moment. Crazy to the extreme IMHO .


If you win an amount like that keep stum for as long as poss ,, think about it .

Yup they seem like a lovely couple , but will get hounded out their home town , Haverhill is one of the worst places in Suffolk to live, full of unemployment and rejects sent out of the sink estates in London

Good luck to em , they're gonna need it from now on

Yes.

Although difficult, after buying a house on the IOM, I think I would go and live in a far away place for a year, put the children in an expensive boarding school nearby to broaden their minds etc. and let the smoke clear then think about the future.

Kind of annoyed 'cos I'm waiting for my mum to do this. Win the lottery that is

[nigelandjan]

I would think the best thing to do is keep quiet until the interest has died down for at least 6 months ,, then announce to your family you have had a BIT of a win on the lottery i.e. a share of the Saturday £3million , then you can have your holiday / new car / house ,, no ones gonna be pestering you for what is a relatively small amount in comparison .

[Panty Hamster]

Every Nigel, Simon and Ian will soon be round with their hands out.

Shoulda stfu.

[PlanK]

Whenever some wins a big jackpot, the lottery blokes usually advise them to go public.


Better than having every reporter, neighbour, man in the street, making assumptions about every innocent local that just bought a new car.

[Panty Hamster]

Let's be realistic.
You honestly think they're going to be in that neighborhood much longer?

[PlanK]

^

No, but if they hid it, they'd have the press hunting them down where ever they went.

[kmart]

Whenever some wins a big jackpot, the lottery blokes usually advise them to go public.


Better than having every reporter, neighbour, man in the street, making assumptions about every innocent local that just bought a new car.

I'd be worried about some scumbag kidnapping the kids or relatives..

No way I'd go public. Just gtf out of Dodge asap.

[Exige]

Congrats to the lucky family.
Hopefully this will help them rather than harm them.

[Bangyai]

Lottery winners bombarded with letters asking for financial help

The £148 million lottery jackpot winners Adrian and Gillian Bayford returned to work to find hundreds of letters asking for help, after they pledged to 'make others smile' by sharing their 'good fortune'.

By Telegraph reporters

12:58PM BST 24 Aug 2012Lottery millionaires Adrian and Gillian Bayford returned to work in their music shop today to find stacks of letters asking for help.

One of their first jobs has been sorting through the sacks of mail asking for financial aid which have arrived since their win was revealed.
Mr Bayford, 41, was back behind the counter of the Suffolk Music Centre in Queen Street, accompanied by wife Gillian, 40, and children Cameron, 4, and Aimee, 6
The £148 million EuroMillions jackpot, revealed last week, was the second biggest lottery payout ever in the UK, behind Ayrshire couple Colin and Chris Weir, who scooped £161.6m in July 2011.

It also puts them in 516th position in the Sunday Times Rich List, with more money than former Beatle Ringo Starr or Sir Tom Jones.

Despite the win, the couple returned to work at their family business.

After scooping the jackpot they were taken to Down Hall Country House Hotel, near Bishop's Stortford, by helicopter and shunned exotic sunspots, heading instead for a caravan park in Scotland.
After their return to Haverhill, Mr Bayford stood in the doorway of the shop, which has been in the charge of his business partner Richard Hudspith for the past week, with friends and passers-by stopping to shake his hand and congratulate him.
Mrs Bayford, who works night shifts in a children's' ward at Addenbrokes Hospital pledged to "make others smile" by sharing their good fortune with friends and family, but hundreds of letters have been delivered to the shop this week from people asking for a share of the fortune.
An email scam purporting to be from the Bayfords has asked for strangers' bank details so that they could receive money from them.
Mr Bayford, who bought his ticket at the nearby Premier Convenience Store, said he had no alternative but to reveal his winnings.
"You might be able to keep £4 million or £5 million quiet, but not £148 million.
"I have just come back to the shop for a couple of hours to try and sort out some of the mail and hopefully get back to some sort of normality.
"We just want to get on with everyday life. We have had a lot of media attention up in Scotland, but hopefully it will die down a bit now.
"There are letters here from all over the world, but you can't help everyone. There have even been people coming over from France and Germany to deliver letters in person. We have some ideas of people we would like to help, but we have not made any decisions yet.
"Everyone in the town has been pleased for us and we do plan to stay here, but we do have to think about security now, especially for the children."


Lottery winners bombarded with letters asking for financial help - Telegraph

[Bangyai]

There have even been people coming over from France and Germany to deliver letters in person.

Avez vous le spare change mon ami ?

Haben sie die geld das sie nicht wanten mien freund ?

[Rural Surin]

They are so gonna regret having their 15 mins of fame.

What an ill thought out moment. Crazy to the extreme IMHO .


If you win an amount like that keep stum for as long as poss ,, think about it .

Yup they seem like a lovely couple , but will get hounded out their home town , Haverhill is one of the worst places in Suffolk to live, full of unemployment and rejects sent out of the sink estates in London

Good luck to em , they're gonna need it from now on

We might check up on them in about 5 years....see how great they're really doing.

These Cinderella pronouncements are almost never what they seem to be.

[Flight19]

"Everyone in the town has been pleased for us and we do plan to stay here, but we do have to think about security now, especially for the children."

Damn straight, the Eastern European criminal gangs that infest the UK these days will be queueing up to kidnap them.