A STUNNED Castle Bromwich teaching assistant was among 18 neighbours to share a £1million prize on People’s Postcode Lottery.
Gran-to-be Chantelle Riley scooped £50,000 to make it a hat-trick of lottery wins after winning twice before – banking previous windfalls of £14,221 and £1,078.
And the 47-year-old also convinced her partner to sign up to the lottery, meaning he’s also scooped £50k too.
Now the mum-of-four plans to buy her rented home and spoil her first grandchild, who is due next month.
Chantelle said: “I can’t believe it. I’m feeling kind of numb. It’s unreal.
“I won £14,000 in the B36 9 postcode which is literally across the road. And then two years ago I won again at that postcode. And now this my third win and my biggest.
“I feel very lucky.”
Chantelle and 17 people on Auckland Drive shared the lottery’s Millionaire Street prize when her street was announced as the winner.
Each winning ticket was worth £50,000. One person trebled their prize to £150,000, thanks to playing with three tickets.
The neighbours’ win is the third massive jackpot to land in Castle Bromwich in the last 11 years.
And on both of the previous occasions, it was the adjacent postcode area, B36 9, that shared the prize money – landing £2million in February 2014, and many won again in July 2022 when £3.2million was divvied out.
When Chantelle first won in 2014 landing a £14k cheque, she decided to keep playing with that postcode. And that decision served her well as she then netted a £1k win, eight years later.
Despite moving house twice since her first win, Chantelle kept playing Postcode Lottery, purchasing tickets at her current postcode and her two previous addresses.
Chantelle, who works at a special educational needs school, has been renting her home for the last six years, but she says that might be about to change.
She is also excited to welcome and spoil her first grandchild.
Chantelle says she’ll put her family first before going on any holidays but might splash out on some designer footwear.
Another £50,000 winner was Sandra Grimes, 59, who jumped with joy when her prize was revealed.
The gran-of-five said: “This is the dream of dreams. I didn’t think this sort of thing happens to people like me.
“I’m just glad other people get this opportunity. If just a few people could experience what I’m feeling right now… I’ll be really happy for them, it’s an amazing feeling.”
Sandra, who works in Farmfoods, was only hoping for one thing when she first received a call from Postcode Lottery staff.
She said: “I would have been happy just to get a new carpet for my stairs and I can now.”
Sandra says she’ll toast her late husband, David Grimes, who passed away in December 2020, aged 52.
She said: “We always have an anniversary dinner on December 17 for him; we’ll be having drinks as well as dinner. And I’ll raise a glass to him because I believe he’s sent all of this.”
