A 15-STRONG syndicate of supermarket workers from the Co-op in Westhoughton celebrated scooping £81,303 in the National Lottery - by downing champagne in a shopping trolley!

The syndicate, made up of men and women from Westhoughton, Atherton and Tyldesley shared out the money, getting a cheque for £5,500 each.

But one of the syndicate, Irene Sandiford, who was the only one to check the numbers, spent a tortuous weekend wondering if she'd won or not after realising that she'd not paid her pound for Saturday.

She desperately tried to contact syndicate leader Pat Spamer, but she'd gone to Hull for the weekend. And it wasn't until teatime Sunday that Irene was able to celebrate, when Pat confirmed she'd put the money in for her.

Irene said: "My legs just went when I realised how much we'd won and then it hit me that I'd forgotten to pay my money. It was horrible. I never want to go through that again. All I could think was that I'd lost all the money." Some of the syndicate learned of their good fortune on Sunday night, but some had to wait until Monday morning at work.

Leanne Holme, at 21, the "baby" of the syndicate, said: "There's a hole in the ceiling where I jumped up when they told me we'd won."

Leanne intends spending her windfall on a new car. "And my mum will probably put up my rent," she groaned.

Recalling the scenes at the Co-op on Monday morning, Pat said: "We were all really ecstatic and kept hugging each other. Needless to say we didn't get much work done on Monday."

Pat's already decided to spend some of her share of the winnings on decorating the house. She's also planning a trip of a lifetime to Australia as well as treating members of the family.

And Angela Carson, who has always wanted to go to Thailand but couldn't afford it, can now book a holiday a lifetime as well.

The syndicate has played the National Lottery for a year, each Wednesday and Saturday. They use the same numbers, which are chosen from a selection of birthdays and anniversaries.

And they came up trumps again on Wednesday winning £10 for three numbers, and £45 for four.

Pat said: "They say things come in three's. I can't wait until Saturday!"

Some of the other syndicate members include Pat Southern, Margaret Gifford and Irene Marris. The other eight members didn't want any publicity.

The winning numbers for draw September 18 were 5, 11, 15, 18, 23, 33 and bonus 38. The winning ticket was bought from The Village Store in Daisy Hill.

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