With a farm and 250 sheep to look after, Gaynor Funnell finds shopping at Primark is still practical
Winning the lottery is a dream-come-true most of us will, sadly, never get to experience. So what is it really like to become an overnight
millionaire? Ruth Addicott meets three winning women in Sussex and asks why, with a Prada budget, they are still shopping in Primark.
When you've got a million in the
bank and the world at your feet,
the opportunities for shopping
are limitless.
While you might imagine yourself
dripping in diamonds, swanning
around in huge shades and a Dior suit,
for some lottery winners it couldn't
be further from the truth.
Indeed, there are three millionaires
in Sussex who are more likely to be
rummaging through the bargains in
Primark than Prada.
They might have won nearly
£6 million between them but Diane
Robson, Samantha Lange and Gaynor
Funnell are intent on keeping it
real, choosing the High Street over
high-end couture.
All three have given up on posh
shops, proving you can't beat a bargain
- even when money is no object.
It's a far cry from infamous pools
winner Viv Nicholson, who blew her
fortune on a shocking pink Cadillac
(and the rest) and is now reduced to
living off a state pension.
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Samantha, from Seaford, scooped
nearly 1.6m in 1999. While she has
splashed out on luxury holidays and
revamped her home, she still shops in
Primark, George at Asda and Next.
"I can't wear a Chanel dress when
I'm at home washing the floor," she
reasons. "That's the reality of everyday
life. Plus, I didn't have one before so
why would I buy one now?"
Diane, 54, from Eastbourne, who
won £2.4 in the Lotto Jackpot last
July, has also become disillusioned
with top-end prices.
"I still look for a bargain, I can't help
it," she says. "I went to London on
a shopping trip the other week with
my sister. We went to Bond Street,
John Lewis and Selfridges and I
couldn't find a thing. I came back to
Eastbourne and ended up spending
loads in M&S and Debenhams. I
suppose you get used to the same style."
While she was tempted by a £1,000
Gucci handbag, the straps "didn't sit
quite right", and she ended up putting
it back. She is not alone.
Gaynor Funnell, 46, from Hailsham,
had visions of luxury when her
husband Dave scooped £3.6m with
his brother in 2002, Not once did she
imagine herself knee deep in mud
and sheep droppings, wearing a pair of wellies.
A former brickie, Dave spotted his
chance to quit his job and pursue
his ambition of a lifetime to become
a farmer. They swapped their three-bed
semi for a five-bed converted barn and
four acres of land.
Instead of poncing around in a pair
of Jimmy Choos, Gaynor has acquired
25 chickens, two horses, two rabbits,
four dogs, two puppies and 250 sheep
(all giving birth as we speak).
With Dave now in the process of
buying a couple of pigs, there is little
time or space for irrelevant luxuries.
And, as far as Gaynor is concerned, life
couldn't be better.
They've taken luxury holidays to
the Maldives, Mauritius, Mexico, South
Africa and New York. They also
bought a Mercedes each, until Dave
decided it was "too posh" for lugging
bags of cement and swapped it for
a Ford Ranger truck.
"Now we've got the animals, Dave's
happy and we don't feel as if we need
to go on holiday," says Gaynor.
"He's got a brand new tractor, which
cost £25,000, and he's like a boy with a new toy."
Apart from a couple of evening
dresses (covered in crystals), Gaynor
is also "keeping it real" - shopping in
Monsoon, Principles, Next and
Primark. The most she's spent on
a dress was £300 "...and to me, that was
a fortune," she says.
"When you come from not having
a lot of money in the first place, you
don't feel you can spend it. It's different
for footballers' wives because it keeps
coming in. When you win the lottery,
you've got to make it last."
She adds: "I've got a beautiful house,
a lovely garden and my kids are happy.
That's more than enough."
The snobbish attitude of sales
assistants has also put Gaynor off
splashing out in the past.
One episode that springs to mind was
the time they popped into Tiffanys
in New York. "We were really scruffy,"
she recalls. "We'd been traipsing
around with the kids eating pizza all
day and we only went in because we
were passing. The staff were so snotty,
I wouldn't have bought anything
even if I'd wanted to."
As far as their relationships with
friends and family go, nothing has
changed. "People just take you for
what you are," she says.
"We had a mortgage, kids and the
normal debts like anyone else - so
winning a lot of money was great. It's
six years now since we won. I still
have to pinch myself sometimes when
I wake up in the mornings."
As it happens, the Funnell's
250 sheep aren't the only animals in
Sussex living in the lap of luxury.
Having no children, Diane shares
her £2.4 million with her cat Saffy and
Jack Russell, Sandy. The dog has
turned many a furry head padding
past in his diamante collar and lead.
Her beloved Jack Russell was even
with her the moment she won.
"I was getting ready for work on the
Sunday morning and I said to the dog,
I'd better check the lottery ticket'," she
recalls. "When the numbers came up,
I couldn't believe it. I got flustered
and thought I must have got the
wrong week. My head felt as if it was
going to explode and my blood pressure
went through the roof. I phoned
my sister and said, You've got to
come around, now! And bring some Champagne!'"
Diane still buys her ticket from the
same shop every week. She used to do
the lottery with her late husband Dave.
It wasn't until after he died, however,
that she scooped the jackpot.
"Friends have said he reeled it in,"
she says. "And, as my mum died a year
before, I reckon they worked their
magic together."
Asked if she'd swap her millions to
have him back, there is no question.
He was the love of her life. "I'd rather
have him any day," she says. "He was
such a lovely man.
In spite of the tragic twist of fate,
Diane has had eight months of "really
good fun".
She gave up her job earning £120
a week at a local wedding shop and
moved out of her two-bed, end-ofterrace
house in Eastbourne. She now lives in a three-bed detached house with a 130ft garden, complete with summer house, hot tub and two big patios.
"It's a real home - not a huge one,"
she says. "I didn't want a house I was
going to rattle around in. All I wanted
was a big garden."
Her best friend of 30 years now lives
in her old house and drives her old
car, while Diane zips around town in
a new Peugeot 207 Cabriolet.
Her only other luxury was to treat
herself to a lovely diamond ring.
"It's just nice to be able to say Yes,
I can have that'," she says. "I've always
wanted a diamond ring."
Diane claims she has her feet firmly
on the ground and still goes to exactly
the same haunts - the Working Men's
Club in Eastbourne (where she's been
going for 11 years), being one of them.
"Most people say I haven't changed,"
she says. "I still go drinking in the
club and I still stand at the bar with
some of the men. The only difference
is, whereas they'd never let me
buy a drink before, they'll let me buy one now."
She has also been known to give the
occasional tip, like the time she went to
a Christmas party held by one of the
prestigious banks in London.
"When we came out it was pouring
with rain," she recalls. "There were no
taxis anywhere and then one of those
rickshaws came along. The bloke
offered to take us and he ended up
pedalling halfway around London. The
poor man was absolutely drenched
to the skin by the time we arrived.
"I said, How much?' He said, A fiver,
unless you want to give me something
for Christmas.' So I gave him a tenner."
Diane's family all get a little bit
extra for birthdays and Christmas now.
The only drawback, she says, is when
family members have money problems of their own.
"You want to help but where do
you stop? You can't do it for one and
not the other. If I gave everybody
a fair whack I wouldn't have anything
at all," she points out. "I've made my
will, they'll get it when I've gone."
While friends and family treat her
exactly the same, Diane has noticed
a slightly warmer welcome when she
goes to some restaurants.
Whereas before she'd have to book
a week in advance, these days the
manager will come over and shake her
hand and she always gets a table, even
when she turns up "on the off-chance"
with eight friends.
The only frosty reception she has
had was in a ladies boutique in
Tunbridge Wells. "The shop assistants
were looking down their noses," she
recalls. "So I thought, I'll show them.
I bought a bra for £90 and got my
Coutts card out. That shut them up.
They were all peering over the girl's
shoulder to get a look."
So has the money changed her?
Diane pauses: "The only thing I tend
to do now which I didn't do before
is put make-up on before I leave the
house," she says. "You can't go out
looking scruffy."
While she could easily afford to
travel the world and have the holiday of
a lifetime, Diane refuses to go too far.
The only place she really wants to
go is Sri Lanka to watch England play cricket.
"But I can't do that," she points out. "I could never leave the dog."
Unlike Diane, holidays took top
priority for Samantha, a former petrol
station assistant, when she won £1.6m.
She lives in Seaford with her partner
Malcolm, son Dale and daughters
Shuria and Kalisha.
One of the first things she did was
buy a first-class ticket to New Zealand
to visit her dad, whom she hadn't seen
for four years. "I had been putting away
£50 a month and had no idea when we'd
be able to go," she says.
The prize money was even more
ironic in that it came just after they'd
returned from a £9.50 holiday through
The Sun.
"I was due to do a shift at the petrol
station and nearly didn't put the
ticket on," she says. "I got a call from
Malcolm saying our numbers had
come up but the shop was full of
customers so I put it to the back of my mind.
"It wasn't until I got home after
midnight and saw the numbers
on the screen, it really hit me. I don't
think we slept at all that night."
Although they haven't moved,
they've extended the house, adding two
extra bedrooms, a new kitchen, a new
bathroom, a Jacuzzi, sauna and and hot
tub in the garden. They also treated
themselves to a new Audi each, and
took a dream trip to the Seychelles.
With 12-week-old Kalisha screaming
in the background, Samantha says she
still can't justify spending money on
expensive clothes for the sake of it.
"We're still the same. You can't
change when you've got kids," she says.
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