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.

Reading Chronicle:

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.”

Reading Chronicle:

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.”

Reading Chronicle: Di Foster, Rebecca Haines, Sam Mackie and Lesley Herbert, a team of National Lottery millionaire mums helping at the Cowshed, a Berkshire charity which provides tailored bags of good quality cleaned and ironed clothes, and other essentials, free to anyone in a time of personal crisis. Pic by PA Di Foster, Rebecca Haines, Sam Mackie and Lesley Herbert, a team of National Lottery millionaire mums helping at the Cowshed, a Berkshire charity which provides tailored bags of good quality cleaned and ironed clothes, and other essentials, free to anyone in a time of personal crisis. Pic by PA

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

Reading based organisation 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’ kits 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.”