Apprentice life guard, 17, currently furloughed from her job wins set for life National Lottery draw and will pocket £10,000 every month for a year
- Harmony Dawes, from Brighton, won the prize on Lottery’s Set for Life game
- Her father burst into her room in the middle of the night to break the news
- Assuming it was a dream, the teenager had to be told again the next morning
- Ms Dawes plans to take her family on holiday following the Covid-19 lockdown
An apprentice lifeguard furloughed during the coronavirus crisis won £10,000-a-month for a year on the National Lottery – but thought it was all a dream.
Harmony Dawes, 17, from Brighton, matched the winning numbers on the Set for Life draw on March 26.
Her dad burst into her room in the middle of the night to tell her she’d won but when the teenager woke the following morning, she assumed it was all a dream.
Harmony Dawes, 17, an apprentice lifeguard furloughed during the coronavirus lockdown, won £10,000-a-month for a year on the National Lottery’s Set for Life game
It was only when her dad said ‘don’t you remember last night? You’ve actually won the lottery, you’ve won £10,000 every months for a whole year’ at the breakfast table that the penny dropped.
Ms Dawes said: ‘I’m not sure how I’d forgotten dad bursting into my room in the early hours of Friday morning screaming that I’d won the lottery but it really felt like a dream.
‘In fact, even now it’s been confirmed, it still feels like a dream. Every time I think about my win I’m waiting for someone to tell me it’s one big joke, it’s ridiculous, this sort of thing doesn’t happen to people like me. Then again, maybe it does.’
Ms Dawes was furloughed from her lifeguard apprenticeship following the Covid-19 outbreak and plans to take her family on holiday once travel restrictions are lifted and also buy a horse with the £120,000 jackpot.
The teenager won the prize on the March 26 Set for Life draw and plans to take her family on holiday once the Covid-19 lockdown is over
She said: ‘My mum is a key worker, working with Brighton’s homeless, so I know how lucky I am to have a safe place to live during lockdown but it’s still tough to keep positive.
‘Although we can’t do much with the win at the moment, just knowing something good has happened has made those around me happier and a little more upbeat and that’s got to be a good thing.’
She has chosen the lucky numbers because they were all related to her uncle, who died before she was born.
Ms Dawes added: ‘Maybe this is him giving us all something to look forward to when we’ve all got through this.’
The winning ticket was bought at Morris Neighbourhood Stores on Widdicombe Way in Brighton though the National Lottery are advising players only to buy tickets online during the lockdown.
Set For Life from The National Lottery costs £1.50 per line to play, draws take place every Monday and Thursday and the top prize is £10,000 every month for 30 years.