Hampshire woman who knits angel mascots for key workers wins £1 million on scratchcard

Debbie Goolding, from Aldershot, Hampshire, has been running a team of knitters, many of them self-isolating, to create the 3in figures for NHS workers, care workers and other frontline staff.

Now the 46-year-old says she is going to upgrade her Citroen CV for a Range Rover Evoque for her delivery runs for the knitted mascots.

Mrs Goolding said: ‘The angels are designed to bring a smile at a difficult time. I've knitted 3in nurses, paramedics, care workers, pharmacists and bespoke versions too, one has even travelled to New Zealand.

‘Many of our knitters are isolating so I'm also the wheels of the operation.

‘Dubbed the Angel Run, I collect the angels and deliver them to local hospitals, care homes, wherever anyone needs a little cheer.

‘Not in my wildest dreams while knitting or on the Angel Run delivering did I think that I'd be the one receiving £1 million worth of cheer.’

Mrs Goolding bought the winning scratchcard when she popped to the supermarket with heating engineer husband Joseph, 38, to buy a birthday card for a friend.

She said: ‘As soon as the lady from Camelot confirmed we had won, Joseph and our youngest son just let out whoops of joy, the whole street must have heard us.

‘It was a whirlwind of excitement as we were calling our two older children and the family to share the good news.

‘The only tricky bit was getting people to believe us, they all thought we were winding them up and my laughing face emoji was completely worn out by the end of the evening.’

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Mrs Goolding said that they plan to look at launching a property development project as well as enjoying a Christmas holiday to New York.

She added: ‘It sounds corny but I genuinely already felt rich, we have the most amazing family, a beautiful home and we thoroughly enjoy our life.

‘The best way I can describe the win is it's like a blanket we are now wrapped up in, it's given us financial security, not just for us but for our kids too, which in turn gives us so much inner peace and warmth.’

Mrs Goolding bought the winning £50M Mega Cash Showdown scratchcard from the National Lottery at Tesco in Wellington Road, Aldershot.

The scratchcard offers a 1 in 3.51 overall chance of winning a prize.

The card costs £5 and prizes range from £5 up to the top prize of £1 million.

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