Winning lottery ticket rescued from recycling bin

A FORMER soldier and his wife have become millionaires after rescuing their lottery ticket from a recycling bin.

Former soldier Geordie and wife Betty Rhodick, from Lochgilphead, celebrate their winnings. Picture: Hemedia

Geordie Rhodick, 71, from Lochgilphead in Argyll, threw his Euromillions ticket away after a cursory look at his numbers revealed he had won nothing in the main draw.

But his wife Betty, 63, fished it out and took it to their local shop where she was told they had struck it lucky in the Millionaire Maker raffle.

After discovering he had landed a seven-figure windfall, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders veteran had no thoughts of immediately spending his fortune. Instead, he spent two days at Lochgilphead Co-op – selling raffle tickets for the local Armed Forces Day committee he chairs.

Former soldier Geordie and wife Betty Rhodick, from Lochgilphead, Argyll. Picture: Hemedia

Now he says his plan is to spend some of his money on a surprise trip for his 85-year-old mother-in-law and that each of his six children can look forward to receiving £25,000.

Mr Rhodick served with the Argylls between 1967 and 1981 and retired from his position as a domestic supervisor at Argyll and Bute Hospital in Lochgilphead last year.

He bought the ticket from RS McColls in Lochgilphead on Friday, 29 May, but did not discover his ticket was worth £1m until the following Wednesday.

He said: “I buy four tickets a week – two on Tuesday and two on Friday – so it’s really been a long time coming. It’s all been so surreal. If people think that this money is going to change us then they don’t know us at all. It’s good security for us and our family.

“Each of our six kids is getting £25,000 and they can pay off any debts they have or go on holiday but once they’ve had that then they’re not getting any more from us.”

Mrs Rhodick handed in her notice for her job as a carer at Enable Scotland on Monday – five days after they discovered they had won.

Yesterday she said: “We were having a bit of an argument just before I fished the tickets out of the recycling bin. He was complaining that he was skint to me so I decided to go check all of our tickets.

“I went to the shop where we usually buy our tickets. The manager of the shop checked them and had turned visibly white and was visibly shaken.

“He told me that I’d need to take a seat.

“The girl behind the corner then shouted over to us that I’d won £25 which was great but then the manager told me that he felt I’d also won a million and that I needed to check with Camelot.

“When I got home I gave my husband the £25 and said ‘there you go, you’re not skint any more’ then told him to check with Camelot because we’ve won a million.”

Despite their new-found wealth, the couple are still busy organising the Lochgilphead Armed Forces Day, on Saturday, 20 June.

Last night, Stacey Rhodick, 21, the oldest of the couple’s ten grandchildren, said: “They have done so much for everybody, in their own family and in the local community, they really deserve it. I know they won’t change.”

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