North East foster carer wins £150,000 on People’s Postcode Lottery win days after wedding anniversary

A North East foster carer has scooped a massive £150,000 on the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Nadene Catterick won the money alongside four neighbours when DL1 3TL in Darlington was announced as the winner of Postcode Lottery’s Summer’s on Us prize. The 53-year-old is now planning to cancel her back garden makeover and says she’ll get a home extension instead to accommodate her clan.

Every ticket was worth £150,000, meaning three quarters of a million pounds went to the lucky players in the Darlington cul-de-sac. Nadene and her husband Paul, 57 - an HGV technician at Scania - were fresh from celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary at a plush spa in County Durham when she was presented with her win.

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Nadene said: “I’m due to get the back garden done at the end of June and I’ll now be ringing up and saying I don’t want it doing because I’m having an extension instead! We’ve always got a house full of people, so it’ll just give us that extra space that we need.”

After being presented with her prize, she continued: “Oh my God, I’m shaking. I still don’t feel like it’s real, but I've already started spending the money in my head. My legs are like jelly. I can get my extension now. And there’ll definitely be a holiday coming out of it.

“We wanted to do the extension as soon as we moved in two years ago, but we had to do a lot of other work instead. I’d like to do a full two-storey extension out the back. We’ll get a bigger dining room and kitchen, shower room downstairs and an extra bedroom upstairs. When I got the phone call, I didn’t think it was real. I didn’t expect anyone to turn up. We went to Seaham Hall to the spa and stayed overnight, we came home this morning and then this. I can’t believe it.”

Nadene, who has two grown-up children and two grandchildren, has been a foster carer for nearly 17 years. During that time the loving grandmother says she has cared for more than 40 kids on both a long and short-term basis.

She said: “I have just always loved children and loved having children in the house. We had two of our own and our family was complete. I think it’s just about giving these children a better life, giving them a better start in life and helping them where you can. Family is our world. We’ll be spoiling everybody. I can’t wait.”

Nadene is also planning to jet off to the Canary Islands with daughter Emily, 30, son Ross, 28, and her two granddaughters, Lily, six, and Rosie, two. Nadene added: “It’s just what we enjoy doing, what we love to do. It’s just one of those things that you only do now and again, so I can’t wait to book a holiday for us all together. It’ll be chaotic, but I just love it. It’s going to be amazing.”

People’s Postcode Lottery costs £12 a month to play and there are guaranteed winners every day. People play with their chosen postcode and are automatically entered into all draws.