Whitley Bay National Lottery winner helps celebrate 30 years of life-changing prizes with photoshoot

Thirty National Lottery winners from the last three decades enjoyed an "incredible experience" in a shoot by a celebrity British photographer to celebrate the lottery's 30th birthday. The 30 millionaires, worth more than £190 million, gathered for a photoshoot by Rankin, who has photographed famous faces ranging from Queen Elizabeth II to the Rolling Stones.

It is 30 years since National Lottery tickets first went on sale in the UK on November 14 1994. The National Lottery has created more than 7,400 millionaires and paid out more than £95 billion in prizes since the first draw, which took place on 19 November 1994.

Sarah Cockings, 40, from Whitley Bay, represented 2005 in the line-up. That was the year she won a life-changing £3,045,705 jackpot. She said at the photoshoot: “It has been an amazing experience and changed mine and my family's life.

"After winning I finished my degree, bought my own home and now have four wonderful children. Although people still remember me paying for boob jobs for my two sisters, and then having one myself. I’m still very close to my sisters - we all live just a few minutes from each other.”

Natalie Cunliffe, 39, won £1 million from a National Lottery scratchcard in 2016 and was proposed to by her now-husband that evening. Ms Cunliffe, who lives in Blackpool, told the PA news agency: "I was with my daughter at a play centre at the time, and my husband had rung me... and he just said 'can you get home straight away?'"

"It was just panic at first. I made it home and he was already at home, and he passed me this scratchcard, and I said 'I have no idea what I'm looking at, you need to explain to me in layman's terms,' and he said 'we've just won a million pounds'."

"You never in a million years ever think that that would ever happen to you." Her husband "turned around on the couch and had a ring in a box" that evening, as he had been planning to propose but wanted to make sure they could afford a wedding.

Ms Cunliffe said winning the lottery was "one of the best things" for her family, as it allowed her to stay home and raise her daughter and "not miss anything". Her first major purchase after winning the lottery was a Mulberry handbag and the family's most significant purchase was a home they refurbished "from top to bottom".

The money has also allowed her to spend time helping charitable causes. She said it was an "incredible experience to be photographed by one of the most famous British photographers in the industry".

"It was one of those pinch-me moments. It wasn't just the photography, it was the hair and make-up as well. I felt like a Victoria's Secret model walking down the runway on the day."

Jodie Langston, 27, told the PA news agency that winning £1 million in 2019 was a "shock" and has changed her life. Ms Langston, based in Birmingham, said: "It changed my life so much. I was only 22 so it allowed me to buy my own home, travel. I got married this year and it helped with that."

"The win has helped all of my family and myself, so I helped them all out. It's helped with financial difficulties in the last few years and it's just been amazing."

She said it was "such a great experience" to take part in the Rankin photoshoot. "It was something that we never thought we'd do. Like you wouldn't think you'd ever be able to meet someone like Rankin," she said.

"It was lovely to interact with everyone and just hear all of their stories as well, and just have that support there, all together with other winners."

Rankin said: "I remember when The National Lottery first started and it was intriguing to meet the real winners and hear their stories and experiences. They are normal people who have had an extraordinary thing happen to them, transforming their lives. That is what we set out to capture."

Jackie King, a National Lottery winner from Grimsby, won £14 million 26 years ago and was the biggest winner to have publicly disclosed their prize at the time. Jackie, who has two sons aged 35 and 32, recalled the first thing she did after winning was organise a trip to Lapland for 35 family and friends. She said: "The first thing I did after winning was organise a one-day trip to Lapland for 35 family and friends. We were picked up in two coaches, and my sons still remember it to this day."

Despite her windfall, Jackie said she didn't think the win changed her fundamentally. She said: "I don't think the win changed me fundamentally, but when I first won, people would say to me, 'What are you still doing in Grimsby? ' I was also questioned when I looked at the sale rails in House of Fraser but I still like a bargain," reports Grimsby Live.

Jackie, who lives near Cleethorpes with her rescue dog Barley, said she's been able to use her winnings to help animals in need. She said: "I now live with my second rescue dog, Barley, who has big anxiety problems. He came from the RSPCA, and I don't think he'd ever actually had a walk before, but luckily I could pay for a dog trainer and dog behaviourist to help give him a new lease of life."

Kathy Garrett, who as a winners' advisor at Allwyn, operator of The National Lottery, has personally dispensed over £1bn in prize money, reflected on the impact of the lottery by stating: "The National Lottery has been changing lives, helping communities and supporting charities for 30 years. On average seven millionaires are created every week across our games and Jackie represents just a fraction of the lucky players who have won incredible sums of money over the years."

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