Lucky Joan celebrates £180,000 win on Postcode Lottery

Joan Holland, age 58, was the lucky winner in the lottery on August 30 and has taken home £182,962.

She was the only person to play with the postcode in the DY11 area.

Joan said: "This is beyond my wildest dreams. It’s life changing.

“I haven’t had a holiday since 2011 so I’d love to go away somewhere. It’s my 60th birthday next year and I have relatives in Australia so I might go over there to celebrate – it’s always been a dream of mine to go."

"I’m going to be practical with the money too. My children have all grown up and are moving out now, so the house is feeling a bit big and needs some work done to it. I like being busy and don’t intend to stop working but this means I’ve got a bit of a cushion."

Joan also talked about how the money raised by playing People’s Postcode Lottery is important to her. She said: “I signed up originally because I had been donating to a number of charities and it seemed like an easy way to support a variety with just £10 a month. I volunteer at the local RDA who receive support so I know how big a difference it makes to them.”

The remaining 818 players in the DY11 sector shared the rest of the money. Their prizes varied from £3,098 all the way up to £9,294 depending on the number of tickets they played with.

The Postcode Lottery team, including ambassador Jeff Brazier, were out and about in Kidderminster presenting cheques to some of the lucky winners.

With a minimum of 32 per cent of every ticket going to charity, players have raised over £462 million for more than 6,500 charities to date.