If you won the lottery one of the first things many people would do is give up work, but not Elaine Thompson.
Elaine won £2.7m 25 years ago, but she refused to give up her job stacking supermarket shelves, as she wanted to be a good role model to her children.
Asthma sufferer Elaine even continued at the supermarket during lockdown, with gruelling shifts that started at 2am.
Speaking to our sister title Chronicle Live Elaine, 64, from Killingworth, North Tyneside, said: "I did the 2am starts everyday so I'm in from 2am to 9am.
"The company was fantastic. They let me go at 8:30am because I'm asthmatic and I'm vulnerable so I was not with any of the customers.
"I was leaving the house at 1:15am every morning, I get up at midnight.
"A couple of times during lockdown it was really really hard.
"I was driving to work thinking 'What am I doing?'
"But I kept working all the way through.
"I could not have done furlough. I'm coming up to 65 next week but I'm not ready to retire yet."
When Elaine and husband Derek discovered they had become millionaires in December 1995, their two children, Gary and Karen were only five and 10 years old.
It was then that Elaine decided she would carry on working regardless of her bank balance, so she could be a role model to her children.
Elaine said: "I had two young children at the time when I made the decision.
"It's important that children see you working hard, and that we don't get anything out of life unless you work hard for it."
She hoped to inspire her children to be the first in the family to go to university, which they later achieved.
The couple will celebrate 25 years since their lottery win this year, on the same date they celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Although she and semi-retired accountant husband Derek, 62, don't currently have any plans, they often like to visit Las Vegas on holiday.
Aside from dozens of trips to Vegas, the couple also helped out Gary, 30, and Karen, 35, to buy their first houses and get on the property ladder. One of the first things they splashed out on after winning was a new Ford Fiesta and later they bought three racehorses.
But the early supermarket shifts four days a week help to keep Elaine grounded.
She said: "People ask me why I have not got a cleaner. If she came to clean, I would have cleaned the house before she got here.
"For me, I was brought up to be a hard worker, I love to work.
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"I have got the best job in the world.
"I absolutely love my job and just because I won the lottery, this didn’t make me want to give up work. I think it is all about balance.
"I have continued to work but work hours which are more suited to me and with the remainder of the time I have been able to help out at and support charities which are close to me."
Camelot’s senior winners’ advisor, Andy Carter said, “2020 seems to have left many of us wanting more from our jobs, thinking about what our next career move might be or jacking it all in to do something that we really love.
“Our passion for gardening and cooking in lockdown and months of home-schooling has clearly inspired the nation to consider a career overhaul and realise the importance of job satisfaction.
“And the importance of our careers doesn’t appear to change even after a lottery win, with only a few looking to quit their jobs if they win. Over half of National Lottery winners still work in some capacity and just under a quarter of them have started their own business after their win, turning their hand to floristry, hairdressing – we even have one that has invented their own spicy sauce!”
Players can check their tickets online at www.national-lottery.co.uk, via the National Lottery app or in their local store.
