Telford couple to share the wealth after being revealed as £1m lottery winners

Ruth Giblin, 44, a leisure centre supervisor and husband Rob, 48, an engineer, said they can’t wait to be able to share their new-found wealth with the rest of their family and friends, after almost forgetting to buy the winning ticket.

Ruth was one of 22 millionaires made in a special EuroMillions draw on Friday, July 22, when she matched one of the 22 UK Millionaire Maker codes to win £1,000,000.

Ruth and her partner Rob, who have already paid off their mortgage with the winnings, will look to add an extension onto Ruth's parents’ home to add more space and comfort, as well as a much-needed extra bedroom.

Ruth said: “This win means so much to us as a family. It means I get to help my parents by building an extension onto their house so there’s enough bedrooms for everyone to sleep in. My parents look after my sister who has additional needs so an extension will mean everyone can get a proper night's sleep!”

Ruth and Rob, who have two children aged 16 and 13, can’t wait for them to experience flying on an aeroplane for the first time as they plan to take their close friends and their families on an incredible holiday next year.

On the day of the EuroMillions draw, Ruth almost missed the chance to buy a ticket.

She said: “Rob reminded me to put the EuroMillions ticket on, as he has to every week, whilst I was out. I bought it and promptly forgot all about the ticket and went straight to Karate that evening.

"The next morning, we got up early for a swim and I saw I had an email telling me I had good news about my ticket. When I logged into my National Lottery app, I could see I had only matched one number, but it was telling me I had won £1m, I was very confused!”

Feeling sceptical, Ruth wasn’t convinced so proceeded to search for the phone number she needed to ring to check if it was real.

She said: “I was sure it was a scam, but when I saw it was the correct number for Camelot, I tried to phone it, only to find they were not yet open! Instead of waiting around, we decided to still go swimming. Although it was clearly all we could think about as every so often, Rob would stop and say, ‘what if it is real?!’.

“We talked all the way home about what we would do if it was true, but I was trying not to get my hopes up. When we finally called Camelot, they asked me what I could see and then they confirmed we were millionaires! We were just stunned and started crying.”

Ruth and Rob then woke their two children up to share the news and went across the road to Ruth’s parents to tell them, on what was her dad’s birthday.

The win will be helping to make a difference to their families' lives as well as their own. The couple want to pay for an extension on Ruth’s parents’ house to build another bedroom and add some much-needed space for the family.

The generosity doesn’t stop there for the family, with their daughter asking for a summer house to be built as an art room for her and a custom-built gaming computer is already on order for their son. As well as paying off the mortgage, they can now happily have their shaker-style kitchen without having to worry about paying it off monthly.

Despite now being millionaires, the pair plan on staying in their current jobs but Ruth may look to reduce her hours so that she can have her weekends back to spend more time with family and friends.