Hotel workers win EuroMillions - and plan huge party to celebrate syndicate
A group of hotel workers have opened the Christmas bubbly already after scooping a £1million win on EuroMillions.
The lucky 13 waiters, office, maintenance and spa staff have been busy arranging parties and breaks for guests. But now they are planning the mother of all Christmas parties for themselves following their win.
The syndicate, who all work at Ye Olde Bell Hotel in Retford, Notts, will need bigger stockings this year after each pocketing £76,923. Syndicate leader Darren Gargan, 52, has already earmarked some of his winnings for a dream winter trip to Lapland to meet Santa.
(PA)Darren, the hotel’s maintenance manager, said: “As the song says, ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year’. To see the faces of everyone who always work hard, but will now also play hard this Christmas, means the world to me.”
Mr Gargan, from Doncaster, bought the syndicate’s winning EuroMillions ticket via the National Lottery App but did not realise for a week that the group had a winning ticket.
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Describing how he felt when a message flashed up on his iPad, he said: “I had the usual email telling me about the draw, and didn’t really bother because I was busy at work.
“I saw there was £6.30 in the account and thought no more of it. The next week I was repairing the hotel driveaway when I had another email. I checked again and asked fellow syndicate member and sales office manager Lindsey to look at the email.
Sales office manager Lindsey Fraser “ran up and down the hotel corridors” telling staff they had hit the jackpot after Darren realised they had won. Lindsey, 53, from Retford, said: “I was screaming and shouting around the office. It was a mad but lovely few hours telling everyone the amazing news.”
The group, whose syndicate has been going for 17 years, bagged the prize in the EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker draw last month. They are planning a bumper Christmas party in the New Year, once the busy festive period at the hotel is over.
Darren added: “To win just before Christmas is perfect timing.
“I’ve got lots of things I want to do but a few foreign trips are on the horizon. The first is a trip to Lapland with the family. I’ve always wanted to go there at Christmas.”
The other syndicate members who went public after the win are Susan Ellis, Irina Rulyova-Caunce, Angela Kay Tong, Lizzie Bath, Jenny Prendergast, Sally Copper, Catherine Firth, William Brown and Christopher Jewitt.
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