Two Reading women who won life changing sums of money on the National Lotto reflect on what their plans are for the money.

As lockdown somewhat hindered their celebrations, winners Di Foster and Rebecca Haines have finally been able to find time to enjoy and share their winnings.

In April 2021, Di Foster from Twyford found out via text that she had won an over-whelming £1,049,669.

Foster said: “It was a bit of a shock. When the text came through, I had to ask my daughter to check if I was reading it correctly.

“I’ve bought a house and I’ve gifted my daughters with the money to buy one each so I don’t have to worry about them.”

“There are so many people that are struggling, and I just want to payback and help those that are in need.”

Rebecca Haines who won £1M in January 2021 said: “It was unbelievable really. It was midnight when we found out and the family stayed up until 5am just deciding what we were going to do with the money.

“One of the pieces of advice is to go on holiday but we didn’t know when we would be allowed to get away, so when we could we book a holiday to Greece.”

To mark Mother's Day and their connection with the National Lottery, the pair joined a team of Berkshire wide lottery winners this to help a local charity that provide essentials for women in Crisis.

The Cowshed is a National Lottery funded charity whose aim is to help anyone with clean clothes and essentials – from mothers leaving abusive homes to families on the breadline unable to buy school supplies.

The teams were putting together a number of ‘Welcome to the World’ kit’s for new Mum’s coming out of a care setting, and referral bags that will contain good quality, clean and ironed clothes for those in need.

With the demand for services increasing by 400% over lockdown, the charity have helped more than 7,000 adults and children in the last year.

Rebecca who rolled up her sleeves on the sewing machines said: “It’s just amazing to be here and be able to give back. They do such a good job here and it’s great to know that everything we do will go straight to someone who is in dire need.

“It’s incredibly humbling.”