Last updated at 12:54, Tuesday, 31 March 2009

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A snuff manufacturer from South Lakeland who won £2.7m on the National Lottery has no plans to give up work, he said today.

Graham Forrest, 46, and his wife Fiona, 45, banked £2,783,114 when their six numbers came up on last Saturday’s double rollover.

Mr Forrest is managing director of the snuff and tobacco manufacturers Samuel Gawith & Company in Kendal, where he started aged 15 in the mail room.

He told reporters at a press conference at Stonecross Manor Hotel in Kendal: “I left school at 15 and went to the company as a trainee manager.

“I’ve worked my way up, I’ve given my life to it. There’s been some good times and bad times, so there’s no way I’ll be giving it up.

“I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”

Mr Forrest bought his ticket online and checked his numbers, which he picked randomly and has used for 15 years, when he went to work on Monday morning.

He said: “I got the email saying I had exciting news and clicked through expecting £10. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw £2.7 million sat in my account.”

Mrs Forrest was doing the ironing at home when her husband rang to tell her they were multi-millionaires.

She said: “He told me to sit down. I was shaking and crying, he had to put his work colleague on the phone before I would believe him.”
Mrs Forrest said she plans to give up her job as a night cleaner at Kendal College.

She said their four children, Nathan, 16, Adam, 14, Megan, 12, and Bethan, 10, were “quietly excited” by the win.

The couple, who are from Kendal and have been married for 17 years, plan to replace their four-bedroom terraced house in the town with a house with a large garden.

Their favourite holiday destination is Tenerife, where they are going this summer, and they prefer a night at the pub to restaurants.

Mr Forrest bought a dark blue Kia Sedona six months ago and has no plans to trade it up for a more glamorous model.

Mr Forrest said: “I like a drink, Fiona doesn’t drink. We’re just ordinary folk. If we go out we just go to the local pub with our friends.

“We’re not big ones for going to restaurants, although we did take the kids last night.

“It won’t alter anything, we’ll go on as normal.”

Their biggest win on the National Lottery was £10 last month, which paid for their jackpot ticket.

Mr Forrest pledged to treat a work friend, who he has known since the age of five, to a racehorse.

He said: “It’s something I’d like to do, it’s always been an ambition.”

He also plans to buy himself a new pair of spectacles and put money aside for his children’s education.

Mr Forrest said his most extravagant purchase to date was a Manchester United season ticket but he relinquished it when his children were born.

He said: “I’ll get another one now, you’ve got to see United play, haven’t you?”

The couple were one of five ticket holders who shared a jackpot of £13.9 million.

The winning numbers were 2, 17, 19, 28, 31, 47 and the bonus ball 14.

A National Lottery spokesman said it was the sixth double Lotto rollover.

First published at 10:04, Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk