Crawley neighbours scoop cash prize

The winners, who all live in Woolborough Road, won big after their postcode was drawn as a winner of the People’s Postcode Lottery’s Street Prize on Saturday, November 19.

Support worker Susannah Sciberras, 45, couldn’t believe it when People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador and former X-Factor star Danyl Johnson knocked on her door.

“I’ve just spent £7,000 on vet bills for my sick dog – I can’t explain how amazing this is, it couldn’t have come at a better time,” she said.

“This means I can clear my debt and book an amazing holiday with my family. I don’t care where we go, but I just want to go somewhere altogether.”

Susannah, who has three children, Max, 29, Megan, 22, and Tyler, 18, was especially surprised to meet Danyl Johnson, a former X-Factor contestant.

“I’m not a huge X-Factor fan but I did watch it when Danyl was on and loved him!

“We were all gutted when he got voted off and it was such a bonus to meet him. He’s so lovely!”

The People’s Postcode Lottery is a charity lottery, with money going to good causes across the country.

A project near Crawley that has received support from players is West Sussex Mediation Service, which was awarded £3,000 this year to provide coaching for people involved in disputes.

Close neighbour, Katie Ions, 30, was equally delighted to receive her cheque. “I’m on a high,” she said. “I feel like I’m floating.”

As Katie was the second neighbour to receive her prize, waiting for the knock on her door was hard.

“My neighbour, Susannah was getting her cheque before me and I was trying to squint out the window to see what she’d won,” she said. “

There were a lot of curtain twitchers on the street.”

Katie and her husband Stuart have holidays on their mind.

“Stuart and I would love to go to Texas,” she said. “We’ve been to California and Tennessee and this has been next on our list.

“We’ve always talked about Disneyland Paris at Christmas – we might be able to book both!”

Classic car enthusiast Gillian Hill, 68, was also presented with a £25,000 cheque.

She said: “I go to a lot of classic car rallies around Great Britain and Europe so I’d really like to buy a campervan which will make travelling around that bit easier.

“My car needs to get painted so I’ll be able to get that done right away instead of having to save up for that.

“It’s really lovely to win People’s Postcode Lottery and I know as a player I’m helping charities too.”

Final winner Suzanne Arif (71) was just as shocked as her neighbours to receive her cheque. “I’m still staring at the golden envelope,” she said. “It’s not sunk in.”

Suzanne, who is a retired solicitor, was especially pleased to win with her neighbours. “I know Susannah next door and I’m thrilled she’s won too. I don’t know the others as well but everyone seems so lovely.”

Although Suzanne is still in shock, she knows exactly how she wants to spend her money. “I want to go and see my sister in Australia,” she said.

“I’ve not been there in 12 years and she’s been quite poorly recently. That’s definitely how I’ll be spending my winnings.”

Players of People’s Postcode Lottery have raised more than £154 million to date for over 2,000 good causes across Great Britain and internationally.

People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador, Danyl Johnson, said: “I loved meeting our winners today, especially Susannah – it’s always great to meet a fan!

“The ladies each have something special they want to spend their winnings on and I wish them all the best.”

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