A LUCKY couple from Bartington scooped the £1,601,958 jackpot on Saturday night’s Lotto draw.

Grandparents Philip Webb, 75, and his wife Doreen, 74, from Bartington, are both celebrating their birthdays in the next two weeks and say a giant joint celebration is definitely on the cards.

They also look forward to spending part of their new found fortune on a long-awaited family reunion.

The couple have two sons; the eldest Steve lives locally with his family however their younger son, Paul, 46, lives in Texas with his two children.

The family have not seen each other since Philip and Doreen’s Golden wedding anniversary four years ago, however are looking forward to being able to celebrate their life changing win together.

The grandparents, who won with a Lucky Dip ticket, said it just doesn’t seem real. Philip said: “We are the happiest we’ve ever been and the news is still sinking in. We can’t quite believe that we’ve won.”

Talking about the moment they found out, Philip said: “We play a Lucky Dip most weeks and I was in the corner shop getting a few bits so just decided at the till to get a ticket. That night Doreen and I sat and watched the draw with the ticket folded on the armchair. When I saw the numbers, I thought they looked similar so I paused the TV and opened the ticket – I was stunned.

“I asked Doreen to check and she was as shocked as me. The first person we rang was our son, Steve and he thought we were joking. Then when we called Paul in Texas it started to feel real. The whole family were screaming down the phone, it was a great feeling.”

Family man Philip continued: “One thing we planned straight away is that we’ll either fly the family over to Texas or organise for them to come here. It is definitely the best birthday present we could ever have dreamt of, to be able to celebrate our special day together as a family. One of my grandsons in Texas said he was very excited to see the big cheque!

“We also have our second great grandchild on the way very soon so it will be fantastic for the family in Texas to meet them – it will be a triple celebration of birthdays, a family reunion and winning the lottery.”

Philip added: “Things like this just don’t happen to people like us, we feel so lucky, this really is life changing for our whole family.”

The couple’s winning numbers were: 06, 12, 32, 36, 38 and 47.

The couple who have been married for 54 years and are both retired bought their ticket from the Co-Op on Lydyett Lane in Northwich.

The National Lottery changes the lives of winners like Philip and Doreen, as well as communities across the UK – players raise, on average, over £33m for National Lottery-funded projects every week.

In Chester West, more than 1,730 grants, totalling over £95m have been awarded helping a range of organisations and projects.